


Tales of Gilnur

by ReprobateGamer



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Charlie V2, D&D 5e, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Dungeons & Dragons Campaign, Dungeons & Dragons References, Exandria, Gen, K'tawl swamp, Post-Campaign 1 (Critical Role), Pre-Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Strucker - Freeform, Tal'Dorei, webed&d
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 72,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23700553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReprobateGamer/pseuds/ReprobateGamer
Summary: Following on from the first six chapters of Chronicles of Vux Stultus, https://archiveofourown.org/works/22892755, we continue to follow Gilnur as his journey continues from Stilben
Kudos: 11





	1. Gilnur: A fresh start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up bound was never the intention. Now Gilnur must found out where he and the rest of his party are and more importantly what happened to the lady they were charged to protect ...

# Chapter 1: A fresh start

Darkness.

Gilnur could feel his limbs contorted _the weight of a country upon him_ unable to move. He was trapped and, in his mind, he struggled _must live, must survive_ against the bonds that pressed him down. The hint of burning came to him _the city burns_ and he clenched his teeth to hold them still _against the frustration_ fighting the fear and helplessness then there was a _lurch like nothing else and the entire world dropped, like a stone, oh gods, just like a stone …_

The darkness pressed in and he could hear something. Unable to move, unable to see, unable to think, he nevertheless fought the pain to concentrate on what he could hear. It came again and it triggered something, a memory which he fought against, teeth grinding in his jaw.

It came again.

“Gilnur!”

The draconbloods eyes snapped open.

Aiden was kneeling beside him, reaching for the vine like ropes that bound his hands together

Gilnur relaxed his jaw so he could speak.

“Get these bonds off me,” he growled.

“Relax yourself,” Aiden muttered as he concentrated on the knot. Gilnur’s eye was drawn to the grey metal and black shadows of Aiden’s sword, put down but close enough to be resting against the human’s leg. Gilnur snatched his hands away as soon as the knot gave and rapidly worked on the bindings around his ankles as Aiden stood up and turned around.

Gilnur became aware that they were in a rough wooden hut, the smell immediately telling him that they were somewhere in swamplands, most likely the K’Tawl Swamp. This was not the ship that they had been on. Daylight streaming in through the open door told Gilnur that time had passed.

The bonds gave and he stood rapidly then paused, swaying. The pounding in his head, the dryness of his mouth, the weariness of his muscles spoke plainly to something had happened, some form of drugging had happened. Aiden was kneeling beside the next form over and it took Gilnur a moment to remember the name of the goliath barbarian as his mind caught up.

He had reached Aiden at the docks of Stilben and found him joining a party that was to accompany some human upcoast to Drynna for her marriage.

 _Barrak_ was the goliaths name. And he wasn’t the strangest one of this new party Gilnur found himself in. Aiden hadn’t batted an eye as Gilnur had hurried up, just a nod then stepping aside to let the draconblood add his name to the ledger. The strangest one was possibly the one also on the ground beyond the stirring Barrak; Gilnur had seen bugbears before, had killed a few but no paladin he had seen had the symbol of Kord so prominently displayed.

He recalled what – Vug – had said. “It has to be clear for my god to help. And for people to not attack me on sight.”

His guttural tone was slow but the muscular, hairy body, leaning on a wicked looking halberd that itself stood taller than Gilnur left an impression. The three non-humans towered over the other members of the group, and indeed most of the crew on the ship. Gilnurs mind, still scattered, blanked on the name of the ship. For a moment, he thought it was the _Valiant_ but no, that was a different ship. This one they had boarded was helmed by a Captain Bagshot, a human with many years on the seas.

Gilnur remembered him greeting the daughter, their mark and escort, Astrid and talking to her father, a stern man who had introduced himself as Goldhearth as he looked the party over and set them on their way with strict instructions to all present, bodyguards and crew alike, as to her welfare. And to that of the dowry, a large ornate and sealed chest and a number of choice livestock.

A shadow at the door revealed itself to be Marlin. Gilnur paused to check he remembered that right, memories beginning to crowd back. Marlin was the slender human woman who very likely had spent a little more time on the wrong side of the law. The draconblood remembered her party trick of the ethereal psychic blades she could will into being.

“The others have got the dowry chest out. How are the rest of our party?”

“They’ll be fine,” Aiden responded flatly as he removed the bonds from Vug.

Gilnur sniffed again and could smell thatch burning. He strode out behind Marlin as she left, squinting against the sun.

He last remembered it being night and they were all on the ship, the second night out from Stilben and most of the way across the K’Tawl Bay. There had been a celebration, a toast to Astrids upcoming nuptials. Gilnur remembered Captain Bagshot raising his cup, filled with a fine wine that he had pulled out. Both Aiden and Gilnur, the recent events involving the poisoned wine fresh in their minds had declined, but there was also rum.

Things got very hazy then and still were now. The hangover felt much worse than one solely caused by alcohol though.

A large circular hut, made of the same rough wood and thatch of the one he had just exited from, was catching fire; a second smaller hut obviously the source. There were a number of bodies slumped, all some sort of frog man and obviously killed by magic and blade.

The other two members of the bodyguard, the blue-skinned tiefling Azuri with her instrument in hand and the human Seth, some form of wizard, sat either side of the dowry chest which had evidently been dragged from the larger hut. They looked over at Marlin and Gilnur as they exited but said nothing. Whatever fighting had taken place had finished but looked to have been fierce.

The form of Vug unstretched through the doorway.

“Where is my halberd?” Vug intoned. “And my armour?”

Gilnur, now noticing that he too was just in the simple tunic he wore below his chainmail, nodded, keen to locate all of his gear.

Aiden stepped out, his dark sword back in his hand.

“We found our stuff, most of our stuff at least, in a hut just a little to the south.”

Vug didn’t wait for more and lumbered off in that direction. Gilnur looked back to Aiden then followed the bugbear. He could hear the clump of Barrak pursuing them as they stepped across damp wooden planks laid out to make a walkway across a shallow pool of murky swamp water. Gilnur needed a drink of water, and possibly to stick something sharp through his skull to deal with the sharp throb of pain.

The first hut contained a selection of drying meats, largely insect in origin; the second had their packs and equipment just thrown in.

It took a few moments to sort through it all, not helped by Vug immediately choosing to don his armour in the doorway but Gilnur was able to get everything.

Or mostly. He could tell immediately that the scant coin he had been able to amass in Stilben had gone, alongside the two daggers scrounged during one of the fights with members of the Clasp, and the steel mirror picked up long before had also gone. But he was glad to see his longbow still present, the string unbroken and the quiver of arrows. The rest of the weapons had also not yet been removed and the rest of his travelling pack was also accounted for and those were acceptable losses.

Barrak and Vug both remarked on other missing items as they finished settling their armour and kit in place and the trio headed back to the other huts, where the other four were resting, trying to find shade as the two huts continued to burn.

On the way back, the humanoids noticed a paler skinned frog person kneeling in the swamp water. It saw them looking and scuttled further away, yelling in broken Common, “No take stuff. Leave my stuff.”

It was holding some shiny trinket which Gilnur could not make out in the creatures paws.

“Hey,” Azuri shouted, “leave Bhumb along. He’s friendly.”

Gilnur just shrugged and sat down next to Aiden.

“Where is the ship?”

“Somewhat that way.” He pointed south and east. "Largely trashed."

“The crew?”

“Haven’t seen them. Captain was trapped under the sails and we rescued him. But no-one else on the ship.”

“Astrid?” Gilnur could already guess the answer and wasn’t surprised to see Aiden just shake his head. Unsurprising but disappointing.

“We’ll look once we’ve rested,” piped up Marlin.

“Will our small frog be able to help?”

“I’ll ask him in a bit.”

As the other four rested, Gilnur, Barrak and Vug kept an eye out for other creatures coming in and to make sure the blazing huts didn’t spread to the rest in this cluster of habitats. Gilnur came across Barrak a little ways north of the village, crouching down and looking at the ground.

“Found something?”

The barbarian grunted, crouching low. “A number of creatures passed this way. Recently. Looks like most have webbed feet.”

“Like the bodies our companions dispatched.”

“Indeed. But there is most definitely a female footprint there.” He pointed to a shallow depression in the mud. “I would surmise this would be our missing charge.”

Gilnur nodded. “Okay then. If Marlin does have any affinity to the frog thing, Bhumb I think was the name mentioned then we can ask what is to the north of here.”

The pair headed back.

Marlin groaned when they asked her, but she stood and made her way around. Gilnur watched her and didn’t notice anythink but she turned back to them as if in the midst of conversation.

“Bhumb says there are many things to the north. But the nearest is what he calls ‘the temple’.”

“Oh well that’s not ominous.” Gilnur replied, privately noting that Marlin must also have some measure of telepathy. “Are we rested enough to continue?”

“I think so,” Seth responded, standing. “But we should take the dowry chest. We’ve lost the livestock but that’s still here and still sealed. Heavy though.”

Vug and Barrak as one leant down and picked it up, each using one hand.

“Or not.”

Bhumb, still clutching the shiny tricket, led them onwards with Marlin and Aiden close behind. Gilnur followed with the bugbear and the goliath following and Azuri and Seth brought up the rear.

The path that had been made through the swamplands was clear, though the details obvious to Barrak weren’t as clear to the rest. Gilnur swatted away the buzzing insects that seemed to be plaguing himself and Marlin, though he thought that Aiden seemed to be passing along with little distraction.

“There, there.” Bhumb broken Common broke the oppressive silence around two hours into the journey. The path they followed beelined to the squat stone-built building in a clearing ahead of them, rising out of the murky reedbeds, plant growth obscuring the walls.

“Thank you, Bhumb,” said Marlin and flicked him a silver piece. Bhumb caught it with wide eyes, his mouth agape.

“So shiny,” he murmured, stopping dead in his tracks. The rest pushed onwards.

“Let’s leave the chest outside and covered if we can.” Gilnur suggested and the two bearers carefully placed it on an exposed piece of ground, next to a log and covered it with nearby vines and sagging plant growth.

“How do we want to do this?” Marlin asked. Gilnur glanced over at Azuri and Seth and noted that they still seemed spent, whether still recovering from injuries sustained in their earlier fight or just struggling with the stifling heat.

“You two, remain out here. Stop anything coming in. Just in case a second band of these frog-things arrives.” He looked around.” Rest of us go in quiet. Marlin scout out the area. Aiden and myself will cover you. Barrak and Vug, move in as needed.”

No-one suggested alternatives and they moved in, Seth and Azuri taking up flanking positions at the archway.

The stone passage inside was noticeably cooler and the five proceeded along it. Sconces burned sickly along the length and from the next archway ahead, a bright light was visible.

They carried on and the passageway opened into a chamber maybe twenty feet across and four times that in width. Marlin stopped for a moment and stood still.

“ _There we go._ ” Gilnur started as he heard the humans voice in his head. “ _You can each speak to me, and I to you. Not to each other._ ” She moved through the archway into the corridor beyond, darting to the right and up a short stairway, making no noise.

The rest slowly crossed the chamber towards the corridor and Marlin appeared again crossing the corridor to a stairway on the other side

“ _Two armed frogmen back that way_ ”

She continued up the stair way, back pressed against the wall.

Gilnur looked down the corridor. From what he could see, the corridor was forty feet or so then opened into a large chamber. The tiled floor they stood on ended into a grey stone brick as it passed through the next archway before them. A round pool of water was visible in the middle of the chamber, surrounded by decorative circles and all on a platform, the floor beyond not visible. In the water of the pool, a frog man stood, the decapitated head of a something that may have been a shark acting as a hat, an ornate spear held in one hand and the other disappearing into the pool in which it stood. He was chanting and above him was a swirling mass of light.

“ _One more to the left_.”

Gilnur nocked an arrow and took aim on what he thought looked like a priest, or possibly the swamp frog equivalent.

He noted Marlin slipping around the corner at the top of the stairway as the other three slowly padded along the corridor.

“ _Got him. One down_.”

Gilnur watched Aiden, recognising the hand signal from their days in the Greenwatch. The bow remained nocked with the arrow at the frog-priest. As the other three stepped forward, Barrak taking the lead, the movement caught the priest’s attention and he looked up.

As he did so, Aiden gestured and spoke a word of power. The priest froze and Gilnur took that as his cue. The arrow flew straight and embedded into the priest’s chest. It had been a while since he had channelled this power but Gilnur did so and the arrow erupted into a mass of brambles that ensnared the frozen figure, sharp thorns digging in with poisoned tips.

A cry from Marlin indicated that she was fighting another and Barrak twisted as a spear was thrown through the archway; leaping in to engage a frogman just inside. Vug was a little way behind but as he stabbed the halberd far further than seemed possible and the frogman let out a cry of pain. The bugbear chanted and a shimmering silver light began to radiant from Barrak.

“May Kord watch over you,” Vug intoned.

Movement at the stairway nearest him caught Gilnurs eye. He saw Marlin duck in, quickly followed by the stabbing thrust of a frogman’s spear. Obviously a second frogman had somehow jumped the human. 

The draconbloods attention returned to the front as a taller frogman stepped into view in front of the pool and began to croak. Whatever the croaker was doing, Barrak and Aiden ignored though Vug seemed to stumble for a moment. Gilnur swopped his aim to shoot the croaker but the arrow went wide, clattering against the rough rock wall at the end of the chamber, as Gilnur noticed the light above the pool begin to darken in colour, though not in brightness.

Aiden stepped forward and swiped his sword down, a crescent of grey energy sweeping towards the priest. Aiden’s other hand remained outstretched and the priest seemed still unable to move.

Barrak moved further into the chamber, the body of a frogman in his wake, looking to engage the croaker. Vug followed, turning to his right to stab at someone out of Gilnurs sight.

The psychic blades again were in Marlin’s hands. Her first thrust was pushed aside by the frogman’s spear, the blade evaporating in her hand, but the other blade sank into the frogmans’ gut before it too evaporated. Whilst her combatant was distracted, Marlin darted away from him and ran up the corridor, a stab wound at her side leaving droplets of blood in her wake.

But in her haste to avoid her assailant, she paused too close to the chamber archway.

From the sounds, there was a second croaker near Vug and Gilnur watched as the rest of the party all cried out as the discordant chant rose in volume for a moment.

“No,” breathed Gilnur as he watched Marlin’s eyes roll up into her skull and she dropped to the floor. The telepathic link in his head went cold. He could see the frogman at the top of the stairs recover, heard more movement in the chamber as the light above the pool grew steadily to a bilious green but knew he had to reach Marlin. Vug caught his eye and shot a quick look to the visible croaker that had moved in to engage him.

Gilnur took Vugs signal and released an arrow at the croaker. However, the shot was hasty and flew wide. He channelled a surge of energy and took a second shot. Which the croaker caught and just snapped in his webbed fingers.

Aiden cried out and his sword flared with baleful energy. He swept out of the corridor and into the room, slashing at the second croaker.

Gilnur caught movement and bared his teeth as he saw a giant toad emerge from water that surrounded the platform where the ceremonial pool was centred. It hopped and leapt at Barrak, whose form shifted and whose face turned bestial, actually wolf-like, and he snapped back at the giant creature.

Vug turned from the croaker, snarling as its blade swiped across his hairy shoulders but ran to the limp form of Marlin and resting his hands on her shoulders, a warming light infusing her and she woke with a gasp. The cold knot of the telepathic link dissipated in Gilnur’s head.

“Kord preserve you.”

She staggered to her feet, touching Vug lightly in thanks as she manifested her blades and leapt to Aidens side where another frogman had appeared next to the croaker, blood spattering behind her as one of her slashes hit her mark.

Gilnur whirled as a spear thrust past him, then the gnarled mouth of a frogman bit down onto him. He pushed it away and pulled the warhammer out. It swept towards the frogman the creature blocked it. He could hear the fighting behind him, the clang of metal on metal as blades clashed and cries of pain. But his attention was focussed on the figure before him.

He was surprised when an arrow pierced its skull and it fell limply to the floor. He looked up the stairway to see an older woman, long white hair framing a human face holding a bow.

“Kill them,” she hissed.

“Working on it.” Gilnur swung back but his next shot at a visible croaker went wide as he heard the other croaker chanting, Vug swaying and Marlin falling backwards, to land still once more. Aiden staggered back through the archway, cursing as a spear caught him and he reached the other wall of the corridor where he spoke and a beam of blue-grey light arched back through and a bolt of lightning snapped along the beam, a frogman’s scream of pain following the impact.

Vug again stepped back from the fighting to assist Marlin, more of his divine energy waking the human with a jolt. Behind him, in the chamber, Gilnur could see the light was now beginning to dissipate, whatever magic afoot now complete. And he could see that the toad had swept Barrak into its mouth, his half bestial form struggling to free itself, spurt of blood running from the toads mouth.

Gilnur saw an opening and exhaled, a cloud of acidic energy billowing out. Two of the frogmen were engulfed, one charging at him came to an abrupt halt as its skin began to bubble and melt. Another further behind just collapsed to the floor, rubbery skin sloughing off from where the energy had hit.

There was another actinic flash as Aiden sent another lightning bolt out and a thud as another frogman collapsed.

Vug stormed up to the pool, the body of the other croaker at his feet and thrust his halberd into the priest, just finally moving again and beginning to remove the brambles around it. The priest was held on the blade for a moment before Vug yanked it away and the corpse of the priest sank into the pool.

The giant toad collapsed with a heaving wheeze and Barrak rolled out covered in blood, spit and phlegm but distinctly alive and angry.

Gilnur realised that only the frogman in front of him was left at the same time the frogman did. It began to run towards the exit right before one of Marlin’s psychic blades embedded into its skull, before disappearing. It dropped to the floor and its blood oozing out.

With a burst of water, a figure erupted out of the pool. Vaguely female, it was distinctly fish-like in features with scaled skin and tendrils coming out of its head down as far as it’s delicate webbed fingers. The mouth opened far too wide, cheeks unfurling as it hissed loudly at Vug then turned and dived into the water behind the platform, ignoring the bugbears stab as it left.

“What the fuck was that?” Vug exclaimed, staring after it.

“We were too late,” the old woman said wearily.

“Too late for what?” Aiden snapped at her, as the beam vanished. “And who are you?”

“I am Mimi and I have been tending the groves in this area for many years. The bullywugs,” and here she pointed at the frogman bodies, “have been conducting these dark rituals recently, turning any they capture into those twisted abominations. I am not strong enough on my own to prevent the rituals. I was hoping when I saw you that we would be in time to save that poor young lady. Alas not.”

Gilnur looked at her. “Young lady? Human, dark hair?” He gave a rough description of Astrid and Mimi nodded.

“Well, shit.”

“Guess we aren’t getting paid any more,” muttered Marlin

“I can maybe undo this dark magic,” Mimi interjected into the silence that followed. “But I will need some items, and I will need her back.”

The rest stared at her.

“Guess this means we have to get wet,” Barrak rumbled, his bestial face returned to its normal goliath form.

From the corner of his eye, Gilnur noticed that the frogman last killed was carrying his steel mirror, and what was possibly his coin purse.

“Alright,” he sighed. “Let’s check the bodies as I think they have our missing belongings, make sure we haven’t missed anything else then we have a talk with our friend here as to what we need to do next.”

“And a rest,” Marlin said wearily from where she was now leaning against a wall. “Been a helluva day so far.”

Gilnur had to agree with her there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this first chapter of this ongoing adventure.
> 
> Before you continue on with the story, a few notes that may help explain things. These cover both campaigns that I write up so notes here may be less relevant for this particular story. But they exist within the same universe so are applicable for both.
> 
> This story is one of two (currently) that look to take Dungeons and Dragons games and put a narrative spin onto it. This largely sets the chapter lengths and means things can suddenly come out of the blue, entirely depending on the actions of players and not the characters featured in this story. Where I can, I look to provide explanations but in some cases - random things just happen!
> 
> As this campaign is set in Exandria, the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount becomes the tome that leads things, followed by either official Dungeons and Dragons 5e lore, or by the Tal’Dorei Explorers Guide. The Exandria based guides take precedence over the core D&D books where any clash occurs, unless I (or as a result of player or Games Master action) deliberately rule otherwise.
> 
> Taking established rule sets and attempting to make them work in a narrative setting means any author has to make their own interpretations in order to keep everything within a cohesive framework with set rules.   
> I have encountered this with several instances so far and so below is my ‘rule set’ for when the rules need some measure of in-universe explanation - and be aware that these ‘rules’ may not be directly referenced within the work. They serve to inform my writing much more than to be recognised knowledge in-universe.
> 
> For any work following a ‘rules as written’ guide, the issue of injuries and recovery comes up. The rules for D&D 5e allow for a character to regain any lost hit points after a long rest (8 hours of sleep or light activity) which leaves the question of how an adventurer whose wounds could have knocked them into unconsciousness could be absolutely fine just eight hours later, potentially without magic. I have elected the following for this interpretation.   
> Traits are shown to be capable of genetically passing along a bloodline (tieflings is an obvious example) and for some lucky souls, (ie Player Characters and possibly major Non Player Characters) there is now a trait of regeneration. It is limited compared to that of the magic spell of this name, or of trolls innate, and now much more potent, version of this ability so no regaining lost limbs and no sudden return of hit points.   
> But anyone with this latent trait is able to recover from damage by resting. Healing magic (arcane and divine) taps into this regenerative power and it doesn’t preclude from needing a longer period of rest for given injuries. But it provides some explanation for how resting can allow PCs to go from near death to absolutely fine.  
> It also means that with training, or just strong will, a PC can tap into this and so go someway to explain abilities like Second Wind, Relentless Endurance and so on, without them having to have any innate magical talent.
> 
> Both Explorer’s Guides have two different subsets of dragonborn; the draconblood and the ravenite. The rules for these sub races mean they vary a little from the official 5e interpretation of dragonborn. For this story, dragonborn is used to denote the race - draconblood are those dragonblood with tails who lived on the flying city state of Draconia, and ravenite for those dragonblood without tails who lived in the Dreemoth ravine in the shadow of Draconia. As the features sets are different in all of the different rule books and all are valid choices, these distinctions do NOT necessarily indicate racial treats or features. Just as dragonborn can be one of ten (or possibly more) colour of scales, the terms Draconblood and Ravenite are used to indicate a culture and are not definitive rules to the ability of any given dragonborn.
> 
> As a personal choice, I have elected to make the monk ability Patient Defence actually activate ‘bullet-time’. Time manipulation is now known on Exandria (see the rules on Dunamancy) so I feel this acceptable in this instance. And it allows for me to legitimately slow things down mid combat. It’s possible that other traits (such as Action Surge) may do something similar and I am currently considering if this can be expanded.
> 
> A little note on terminology:
> 
> Focussing is for when a character has psionics or is wielding mental powers;   
> channelling is for external manifestations of magic power;   
> the weave is the means by which casters can access the magical power that binds itself around all things and by which other magical use can be identified


	2. Gilnur: Slippery when wet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the fight at the temple, the group have to decide what to do next.

The roofless temple was getting dark by the time the group had bundled the bullywug corpses into a pile and retrieved their personal items that the bullywugs had taken from them.

Mimi remained with them and they set up camp in one of the side corridors, the dowry chest bought in with Seth and Azuri.

As Seth began ritually casting a series of alarm spells at various archways and stairways to give them a warning, Gilnur laid out what items the bullywugs had collected in addition to the groups own personal items. Mostly it was water-soaked leather armour pieces and crude spears which they set aside but the spear that the bullywug priest had been wielding was finely made and Gilnur put it aside, along with a shield made from a lacquered turtle shell, which none of the rest were interested in. The armour of one of the croakers seemed to have some form of magical essence and Marlin swopped out her own leather armour for it.

He inspected the rest of the items. A total of 80GP of coins from the various bullywugs was separated out evenly to the party, with Gilnur holding onto the extra couple of gold pieces as a meagre start to party funds. There were a couple of engraved silver forks, a selection of dead fish and a small jar of a gooey paste that Gilnur sniffed carefully.

“Some form of glue I think,” he said in general, offering one of the fish up for the evening meal.

Mimi had been watching him. “The bullywugs covet items, the shinier the better. Which are not always the most value of course. But to them, the more shiny you have, the more power you have.”

He looked up at her as he packed the rest of the items into his pack.

“You say you can undo what happened here with some items?”

Mimi nodded. “That I can. All are going to involve some effort though.”

Marlin spoke up. “Well, the lady was the reason that we were all here so if we can’t help her …” She was eyeing the dowry chest and was examining every side carefully.

Seth came up the steps after finishing his last Alarm spell.

“Why were the frog people doing this?” He asked as he slumped to the floor near the small fire they had set-up.

“How much of the history of this place do you know?” Mimi asked him, then more generally of the group. They all shrugged or shook their heads. The old woman settled back.

“I came to learn all this as I came to understand this land. This temple is old and there is a great secret locked away underneath, possibly some vast treasure. This secret is locked away deep below and a number of steps that each need to be done to unlock it. The transformation ritual is one of those steps. And now it has happened, there is a set process to undo what was wrought today.”

She paused and took a sip of water.

“The process requires a few different items. You are in luck that all items are in the locale, but they will not be easy to obtain.

“First we will need some blackened pearls. These are hoarded by sahaugin who reside in a lake not too far from here. We will also require griffon feathers and there is a nest only a few hours travel to the north west of here. We will need some large bones and we have been plagued recently by a hunting party of Orcs who may well have what we need. I believe they have a number of camps in the region.

“And we will need some Serpents Breath.”

“What’s that?” Gilnur asked curiously.

“It’s a delicate compound that must be treated carefully. Very easy to cause it to evaporate or be wasted. There is a mage, Old Minas, who has the art of creating it. His tower is two days travel north and a little east.”

“Are you able to guide us to these places?” Vug’s voice rumbled.

“I am not leaving my grove unattended for that long and giving detailed directions in this swamp is almost meaningless. However, I’m sure your excitable friend,” and Mimi gestured in the direction of the pool, where they could hear Bhumb croaking to himself and splashing in the water, before she continued, “has travelled enough of this region to be able to find all these places.”

Azuri stirred,” Is he going to be safe in there? Is Astrid, or whatever she is now, likely to come up and attack?”

Mimi shrugged. “I don’t believe so. From what I know, she will be attracted to whatever secret lies below us and will not want to leave it. The sahaugin are unlikely to tolerate another aquatic creature in any case.”

“This may be all by the by,” Aiden said sourly. “If we are meant to be accompanying Astrid to a wedding then we are going to be late. What happens then?”

Seth stirred. “I’d like to go back to the ship and question Captain Bagshot. He may be able to clear up a few things.”

Gilnur nodded. “This appears to have been planned. That we were all drugged and ended up here, seems a little co-incidental otherwise.”

“The bullywug are opportunistic scavengers,” Mimi said as she helped herself to a portion of the fish. “But for your charge to be turned in this ritual does imply that something is going on.”

“It may not be about her,” Marlin cut in, crouching in front of the chest. “What if it’s something in here that is the real target? We could get it open and have a look. I think I can pick this lock and the wax seal upon it looks like it may come away with just a little work.”

Vug looked over at her. “But our contract included the delivery of the chest, alongside the safe and untarnished Astrid.”

“Yeah about that?” Aiden looked over, “What do we say about all this when we get to Drynna?”

“I think we worry about that once we get there,” Gilnur replied. “Let’s worry about turning her back first.”

Barrak spoke up. “So, we need to decide what we are to do.” Gilnur noted again that Barrak’s accent seemed almost Zemnian, as the barbarian continued. “My vote would be to pursue the griffon. I think the seven of us should be able to manage that. Then we can work our way down the list.”

Vug glared at Marlin, currently sitting on the chest, and lightly prodding at it with her dagger. “We should decide where we are putting the chest.”

“We could open it.”

“We need to decide where we are putting the chest,” Vug said again, a little more firmly. “It could be hidden here.”

Barrak looked over at Mimi,” Could we store this with you?”

Mimi walked over to the chest and held her hand over it for a moment. “I don’t detect anything in this that causes me concern.” There was a slight intonation that made Gilnur look at her as she continued. “This chest I am happy to look after for you at my grove.”

“And how far aware is that?”

“Not that far, just a couple of miles.”

“Let us head there in the morning first.” Vug said, with a slight air of finality. “We sleep now, keeping regular watches and we’ll decide after that what we are pursuing first.”

There was a general note of agreement and everyone settled down in their bedrolls, other than Gilnur who took the first watch. He handed over to Vug and was himself about to sleep when the alarm went off. They all moved quickly before they saw Bhumb had jumped out of the pool and was now crouched.

“Loud noise, loud noise.”

Vug loomed over him.

“You can’t pass through here. Alarmed.” Bhumb stared back at him.

There was a snort from Mimi. “I think your friend is probably not understanding the intricacies of alarm spells.”

Marlin sighed and her face tensed. Bhumb turned to her and after a moment shrugged and jumped back into the pool, the ringing alarm marking his presence. She looked at the rest.

“I’ve asked him not to pass through there tonight. He is going to stay in the pool area.”

“Good,” rumbled Vug.

“Be nice, Vug,” Azuri said sleepily.

The rest of the night passed without incident and the group began to stir as the night receded and the morning sky began to shed light above them.

Conversation was sparse as they had a quick breakfast.

Mimi indicated the chest, which Marlin again was on top of again, checking the hinges.

“Shall we take that back? Don’t know how many of you it takes … oh …”

She trailed off as Vug picked up the chest in an easy motion, Marlin sliding off with a yelp, and turned to look at the old woman.

“Ready when you are.”

Mimi rallied and set off, the group following her with Bhumb scurrying in their wake. True to her word, after a couple of miles, the terrain shifted from the cypress trees to more broad leaf varieties. She led them towards a small but well-crafted shack, which a number of ropes were tied around, strung from tree to tree a few hundred yards out. Whispering, she pulled a wooden plate from one tree and indicated for them all to proceed in, waiting for Bhumb to pass as well before resetting the rope: some manner of arcane ward perhaps.

Vug entered the shack and left the chest in a corner then came back out.

“So,” Mimi asked, “Where are you headed?”

There was a pause for a moment before Barrak broke it.

“We could work backwards. Deal with the furthest thing away, the wizard, so it’s done then work back with the nearer tasks.”

Gilnur shook his head. “Though I agree with your reasoning, if that Serpents Breath is as unstable as Mimi suggested, that should be the last item we collect. I’m not in a hurry to go swimming in my chain mail so I’d prefer to put off the sahaugin, and retrieving Astrid, whilst we ponder the issue of breathing water. I like the idea of seeing the Captain, but we can probably tie that into one of the others.” He looked over at Mimi,” I presume that the Orcs are moving around?”

She nodded slowly, “I would think so. I’m not following them that closely.”

“And you know the location of a Griffon?”

“There is a nest just a little more to the east and north. On a hilly escarpment that is a little above the swampland. A few miles from here.”

“Let’s go there, get the feathers collected as a simple and quick win. Should be done in a few hours then we can hunt down the Orcs and check in with the good captain. Give us chance to get a bit more of a feel for the lay of the land. We can continue to ponder whether to open the chest as we do so.

“We haven’t really worked as a full group yet either, so this will also give us a chance to start test out how we work.”

None of the group seemed especially enthused about the rough plan but no-one nay-sayed it so they checked their kit and nodded goodbyes to Mimi, who broke and reset her rope ward as they set off.

Marlin checking that Bhumb knew the way to the escarpment and the griffon nest.

“I’ve had to promise him that he doesn’t need to get too close to the nest.”

“Should be fine,” boomed Vug.

Mimi called to them. “Remember, don’t harm the griffon!”

The group traded looks.

“Maybe it won’t be home,” offered Seth. Gilnur eyed him disbelievingly.

As they set off, Azuri paused.

“I’m still a little concerned that Astrid may try to depart in our absence. I’m going to head back to the temple and keep an eye on it. Also make sure that the bullywugs don’t come back.”

“Need anyone with you?” Seth asked and she shook her head.

“I’ll be fine.” She darted off back towards the temple.

They proceeded onward through the swamp, wading through the shin high water, and trying to remain on the narrow mounds of growth that rose above the murky water. The insects buzzed them incessantly and the air was much more humid than before. The morning light was grey, murky clouds now filling the sky. They were still under the trees when the heavens opened and the rain began to fall, fat wet droplets, the air now muggy.

It took a couple hours trudge in the damp hinterlands before the ground began to slowly rise, the cypress trees giving way to tupelo trees as the ground became firmer underfoot. It was only a short while later when Bhumb stopped and pointed.

“This way?” Marlin asked. The little frog man nodded then sank low into a marshy pool. The rest continued, noticing that the light through the trees growing as the trees themselves began to lessen, the rain now falling more heavily as the cover diminished.

They came to the treeline and looked over the southern edge of the escarpment. Solid land continued for twenty or thirty foot, dipping into a narrow gully then rising in steps before them, the whole escarpment a few hundred feet above the swampland that surrounded them.

Scattered shrubs clung to the dark stone, but no trees were visible before them. What was visible was a promontory of rock, its southern edge breaking through the steps with its base on the fifth step up. Gilnur guessed it around a hundred fifty foot from where they were as he squinted against the rain and on the tip of the promontory, twenty foot or so from the ground on that step was a large nest.

Visible was a massive eagle head and wings that sprouted from a feline body, the bulk hidden by the height. This griffon was most certainly home.

“So, now what?” Asked Aiden.

“Can they see in the dark?” Marlin asked. “We could wait.”

Gilnur was sodden in the ongoing rain. “I’d guess it’s vision at least as good as a giant eagle’s. Whatever we do, probably better to do it in the light rather than in darkness.”

Barrak was eying the monster eagerly. “Back home, it used to take six or seven of us to rustle a griffon.”

No-one pushed to ask him to explain more, though looks were traded behind his back.

“I guess it makes sense for me to sneak up there and get the feathers. I’ll need it distracted though, while I climb up those little cliffs, and on that outcrop to the nest itself.” Marlin turned to the others.

Aiden and Gilnur both shrugged and Barrak was too focussed on the griffon but Seth and Vug looked over.

“I have something that will distract the griffon,” intoned Vug. “I will give you a few minutes to get into place.”

Marlin nodded then turned to go before she stopped.

“Um, anyone remember how many feathers?”

Gilnur waved the empty sack he was carrying.

“At least fifty. I checked with Mimi last night.”

“Oh. Jolly good.” She slipped away to the south, heading round to their left, securing the sack on her belt.

Vug watched her go then turned to the others. “I will go the other way and make a distraction. She will get the feathers. Plan A.” They watched as Marlin slid into the low gully before them before climbing nimbly up the other side. The next step of land was around twenty feet across before another steep rock wall, another ten or so foot high. Marlin made her way up that one.

The slickness on the rock face was visible and everyone winced when they saw her grip slip and she tumbled, though she landed deftly. Moving along the wall a little way, she hopped to the top of a large stone then used them to climb another section reaching the top of the next step.

She vainly tried to wipe the rain from her face then carried on up the series of wide rocky steps, coming to a halt at the promontory and ducking into a shadow of a boulder at its base.

The griffon was still visible in the nest, looking out as if waiting for something but Marlin appeared to have reached the top without it noticing. Vug grunted and set off to the groups right, Barrak in hot pursuit.

Seth cursed quietly, “She’ll need me to get down quickly,” and he set off along the same path Marlin had taken, leaving Aiden and Gilnur. Aiden looked at Gilnur

“What the fuck I am meant to be doing?”

Gilnur composedly unslung his longbow and nocked an arrow, stepping out beyond the treeline and kneeling. He trained the shot at the griffon, trying to get a feel for how the rain was falling so he could adapt his shots.

Aiden stood next to him, sword in hand.

“The old woman said not to harm it.”

“She said to ‘try’ not to harm it,” Gilnur replied coolly, releasing the tension a little on the string as he watched the others moving forward. Seth started to climb the first rock face and was pulling him self to a standing position when he slipped, falling back over the edge and the ten foot drop behind him.

Gilnur blinked and Seth was standing at the edge before headed towards the next step. There was no trace of him falling over but Gilnur could feel something had changed in the arcane weave he drew his powers from.

Shrugging, he watched the wizard continue to struggle up a couple more rock faces, stopping a level below where Marlin was still hiding. Looking to his right, Gilnur could see Vug and Barrak pressed against the gully rockface having moved along it as it followed the base of the escarpment so that they were more to the east of the nest.

Looking at the griffon, Gilnur could see it was looking in their direction. He didn’t know if they were aware but Vug then gestured.

Two levels up from where he stood, a large cow suddenly appeared. Standing ten-foot long, the white and black fur stood out against the wet shrubs and the griffons eyes shot around, locking onto it.

Seth waved at Marlin, trying to get her to climb.

She dodged out of her hiding space and leapt for the promontory wall nearest to her. The momentum pushed her up half-way then her hands scrabbled frantically on the smooth rock. Desperately she pushed away from the wall as she began to slide and back-flipped to the ground.

“Moooo.”

“MOOOO.”

Gilnur slowly turned back as he heard Vug and Barrak choose that moment to start making cow noises from where they were pressed against the rock.

Marlin moved over a little as the griffon stretch out her wings. Both leapt at the same time, the griffon into a graceful glide whilst Marlin clung to the rockface not quite half-way up.

Gilnur winced as her hands slowly slide off the ledge and she fell to the ground. Bounding up, she moved around the promontory a little more, wiping her hands on her cloak, leaving white trails of something.

As the griffon wheeled easily over the fake cow, Marlin tried twice more to climb different sections of the promontory and failed both times, the second time having to wipe off more of what Gilnur now realised was griffon crap, though at least she kept her footing.

He saw that the griffons next circle over the cow brought her over Vug and Barrak as they continued to moo, though they did shuffle sideways into a scraggly bush beside them.

“What am I watching?” Aiden asked.

Seth was slowly climbing another rock face, to get closer, slipping as a gust of rain caught him face first and landing on his back. Marlin took a few steps more around the promontory, now past its southern edge and leapt again.

The griffon obviously decided that the two cowering humanoids weren’t much of a threat and swooped savagely down on the fake cow, cawing loudly as it’s talons passed through the illusionary image, noticeably confused.

Seth pulled himself up and started on the next step rock face, just barely pulling himself up. Marlin was five feet or so below the nest when another gust of wind whipped around, pushing her off balance and sending her falling back to the ground again.

The griffon cawed angrily as it stashed at the cow, futilely. Then it flapped its wings, starting to lift off.

“Plan A’s fucked,” growled Aiden. “Did anyone think of a Plan B?”

Marlin heaved herself back onto her feet and continued around a little further, most of the way around the promontory now and with her back to where the griffon was rising.

Barrak must have noticed as he suddenly pushed up from his static position and climbed the rock face by him without stopping. He had one end of a rope in his hand, a lasso tied at the end, and he swung it as the griffon screeched at seeing Marlin clinging to the promontory.

The lasso caught its leg and he pulled the rope taut, the monster shrieking and turning mid-flight to regard the barbarian, a look of excited rage clear on his features. Vug was pulling himself up, his long arms proving easy purchase as he moved to assist.

“Fuck this.” Aiden took off at a run, easily leaping down into the gully, and springing up the rock face on the other side.

Or trying too; his hands also slipped on the wet rock and he was unable to get out of the gulley. Gilnur couldn’t see his face but the air of frustration radiating off him was almost visible.

Seth finally reached Marlin as she tumbled back down the cliff face. He gesticulated as he spoke rapidly with her, Aiden moving off along the gulley and Vug reaching the griffon, aiding Barrak on the rope.

Whatever Marlin and Seth decided, Seth moved to the rockface and braced himself. Marlin clambered onto his back then just jumped and got her hands onto a thick branch at the base of the nest, hauling herself up onto the promontory next to it. She peeked a look into the nest then froze.

A lull in the wind at that point meant Gilnur could hear a series of low chirruping and he wondered if the reason they weren’t meant to be hurting the griffon was that it was mothering a brood of baby griffons. That could explain why it was straining against the rope held by Barrak and Vug, dragging them a few feet along the muddy soil, urgently trying to get back to its nest.

Marlin rolled her shoulders then leaned into the nest, and bundled handfuls of feathers into the now open sack.

With a roar, Barrak pulled on the rope and the Griffon was pulled back, now only fifteen feet or so from the straining pair. Gilnur watched closely. He did not particularly want to hurt it but if it attacked his companions, they would need some support.

Aidan was bristling down in the gully, unable to find any nearby rock face that was rough enough to easily climb.

Marlin continued to fill the sack, then ducking down and crouch walking around the nest. She popped back up and reached in again, grabbing more loose feathers.

Mama griffon decided at this point that she wasn’t winning the tug of war and tried a new tactic, turning agilely in the air and swooping down at the pair attempting to restrain her.

Gilnur watched her dive, knowing that he shouldn’t fire but unable to stop himself aiding the only way he knew how. He released the held arrow as the creature raked at Vug and Barrak, both turning to cushion the blows as best they could without letting the rope go. His bowstring was wet, and the shot was not great, but it caught the creature on its rear flank. He channelled his arcane power and a mass of the serrated brambles wrapped around its hind quarters, causing it to call out in pain.

Aiden turned and shot Gilnur a look; the dragonborn shrugged with a ‘what else could I do’ look on his face and drew another arrow.

Marlin couldn’t be seen anymore, and Seth had moved nearer to the southern edge, desperately trying to see where she had gone. He started as she leapt from the ledge she had climbed up to, the shock on her face visible as she realised Seth wasn’t where she had left him.

Seth thrust his hand in her direction and an arcane glow encased her, her form floating to the ground. Before she had even hit the ground, he turned and slithered down the first of the rockfaces, waving his arms wildly and shouting “Time to go,” barely audible over the wind and rain.

Vug braced himself and Barrak vaulted onto the back of the griffon before them. It bucked wildly trying to throw him off and Gilnur could see the magical brambles digging into its flesh. Now that the magic was out, he had no way to cancel the effort until the magic dissipated or something removed the brambles.

He yelled at the pair to clear the brambles away, uncertain if they heard him over the turmoil.

Aiden was shouting at everyone to hurry up as Marlin pushed herself and covered most of the distance down the steps, sliding down one of them as she held the sack but then skilfully jumping down a few more.

Seth was slower as he half climbed, half fell. With two of the rocky steps left, Gilnur distinctly noticed him misjudge the distance and run straight off one edge. Again, that blink and Gilnur could now see Seth slowing to climb down, an afterimage in the weave fading as the fall never happened.

The griffon was pulling herself back into the air and Barrak leapt from her back, rolling as he landed on the ground and took off back towards Aiden. Vug grimaced and stepped on the rope, pulling out his halberd in one hand and using the shaft to smash away the brambles on the griffon as it shrieked in his face, the rope taut between them.

Gilnur breathed out, arrow nocked. As the breath emptied his lungs, he aimed and released. Almost in slow motion, he watched the arrow fly through still rain drops, spinning before it cut straight through the rope just below the griffon’s claw.

Feeling the tension release, the griffon flapped madly, powering back to its nest and its young brood. Vug let it go, leaving the rope and running back towards the rest, the cow wavering than vanishing behind him.

Marlin arrived at Aiden at the same time as Barrak slowed and Seth scrambled into the gully.

Gilnur watched the griffon land at its nest, checking in on its young, and he motioned to the rest to move.

They all scrambled along the gully towards him, and he reached down to help pull them up. They all darted back into the trees as the griffon stood tall in its nest and shrieked defiantly at them as they departed.

It was a bedraggled party that staggered back to the edges of Mimi’s grove. Aiden was no less frustrated than before and Vug and Barrak both bore scratches where the griffon’s attacks had caught them. Seth was covered in grass stains, though he was systemically using his arcane power to mundanely clean his robes, wincing as he shifted bruised muscles.

Marlin was the worst of them, covered in scrapes and cut, and not a small amount of old griffon droppings, favouring one leg.

Mimi saw them coming and came out to meet them as the rain eased, though still lightly falling. She broke whatever arcane ward was bound to the strung-out ropes and accepted the sack of feathers from Gilnur.

“Did it go well?”

“Yep. All griffons alive. Feathers retrieved.”

She nodded at the sack and raised an eyebrow as Marlin stepped forward, fishing a stray feather from her tunic. “Glad to hear that you didn’t hurt the griffons at all.”

“Nope. Maybe just a little skittish is all.” Gilnur replied shortly.

There was unspoken agreement that they were never to speak of this encounter again.


	3. Gilnur: Tension in the Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party set out for the orc camp for the second ingredient of the ritual. 
> 
> Things do not go according to plan ...

The group took only a short rest before Marlin used her telepathy to speak with Bhumb again, checking that he knew which way the orcs were likely to be found.

“Two day,” and the little frog person pointed, “not more two day. Come, come.”

He gestured and scampered to the wards.

The rest of the group hurried to fill up waterskins and grab a little bit of food before hurrying after their guide.

“Are we just leaving the chest here?” Marlin asked, her gaze lingering upon it.

“Yes,” said Vug firmly. He held a hand towards it and gave a low intonation to Kord. “I have checked. There is nothing untoward with this chest or with the place it is in.”

He gestured for everyone to head onwards.

As Mimi reset her protective wards, there was a terrible sound wailing through the trees.

“Oh no,” breathed Marlin.

It took Gilnur a moment longer to recognise the discordant melody as that of approaching bagpipes and Azuri wandered into view.

Seth approached her.

“I thought you were keeping an eye on the temple?”

“I was. I did. It was BORRINGG! Can I do something more fun now?”

“How about killing orcs?”

“Okay,” she replied brightly and fell in with them.

Gilnur sighed, shared a look with Aiden and they followed onwards.

The trek took them out of the broad-left glen and back into pure cypress swamp, the sodden ground squelching beneath them, where there was any ground. Most of the afternoon was spend wading through brackish water, their trail evident in the broken patches of floating leaf matter and organic residue from the volume of life around them.

Gilnur spent a lot of the afternoon in thought. He had been hiding his arcane abilities for so long but something in this place, in the K’tawl Swamp felt like it was oozing energy. It had been years since he had demonstrated any of the arcane power that he knew resided within him – far too often he had seen the aftermath of magic, and the immediate targeting of arcane users that he had, almost instinctively, been suppressing it. But these last few weeks, in the company of those who routinely used magic right down for simple tasks like constructing arrows or creating light, he was beginning to think there may be a place for him to begin to use a little more of the power he for so long had turned from.

This chain of thought turned over and over in his mind as they sloshed through the mire, a little before evening finding a patch of land that at least was above water level. The rain had died down, but the ground was still wet, and the night’s rest certainly wasn’t the most comfortable though at least no-one woke up tied up with a raging headache today.

The sun was coming up and the air was getting muggy already as the party broke camp.

Following on from his thoughts of yesterday, he took a moment to cast a cantrip, long learnt but only ever used when he hadn’t been around others and a golden globe appeared floating above his hand, shimmering as if seen through heat.

“No rain, very hot today,” he told the others. Bhumb was staring as the effect flickered and vanished

“Shiny,” Bhumb said. Gilnur nodded and stood. He caught Aiden giving him an odd look but Gilnur didn’t look back at him. Aiden had presented a lot of mysteries since their paths had crossed a few days and, to himself, Gilnur privately admitted that, at least a little part of him, was glad to be able to have something of himself that Aiden wasn’t aware of.

They set off behind the scampering Bhumb.

“Not far, not far. Orcs this way. This way. Come!”

Gilnur paid a little more attention to his fellows as they journey continued. He noticed that Vug would never directly present his back to Aiden and more than once the bugbear was eyeing Aiden’s sword. Gilnur wondered if Vug had picked something up yesterday – he knew that divine wielders could sense the presence of fiends and undead and the dragonborn wondered if there was something of note regarding his old friend.

He knew what Aiden had told him of the sword but having seen it in action, and the change in character, he had his own concerns regarding the weapon.

The group continued largely in silence through the day and the sun was well past noon when Bhumb, currently flanking the group as he yet again went off to splash in a nearby pool, suddenly froze.

“Hide, Hide!” He whispered loudly then sunk low in the water, barely visible.

Everyone in the party tensed, other than Aiden who seemed preoccupied.

Marlin pointed and the rest looked ahead at what she had noticed. They were following a relatively dry patch of land as it snaked between two large pools of dark water. Ahead of them, maybe fifty feet onward to one side, they could see a large pile of rotting vegetation ahead of them, a patch of dead plant growth around it. Odd though it was, the patch seemed to be rustling and quivering in a way that suggested wind; the humid air was still.

Marlin gently stepped closer to it, stopping around 40ft from the mound and her daggers materialised in her hands as she stood ready. Azuri however inflated her bagpipes and took a seat on a nearby log, the notes echoing out into what GIlnur now realised was a silence undisturbed by animal life.

The mound extended a single tendril as the note played, as if someone reaching for music and Aiden started. His reaction was immediate, and he swept his sword up from its rested position, the blade pulsing with the cold grey light and a crescent of the charged energy sweep into the mound. It recoiled wetly then began to unfurl into a vague humanoid form, several loose tendrils of rotting plants now reaching in their direction.

Gilnur released the arrow he had already nocked, and it sank into the morass of plant matter. He concentrated and there was a burst of energy, causing a rapid shift in the things posture, decaying leaves shooting out from the small explosion of force. Seth stepped forward, hand raised as a small ball of fire grew and he released it as a narrow bolt.

It impacted against the things flank and there was a sizzle, but the mound continued to expand, it’s humanoid form now taller than any member of the party.

Gilnur looked over to Barrak – the barbarian was still, rigid, staring with terror at the mound. “Not again,” he whispered.

Vug stepped forward a few paces.

“Kord protect me,” he chanted and there was a shimmer of energy that encircled his form.

The mound now shambled forward seemingly drawn towards the advancing Vug. The bugbear growled and swung his halberd in one meaty paw, slicing through part of the shamble in a trail of pulpy matter; a flash of radiant energy causing the shambler to briefly recoil, putrid leaves reforming and covering the damage.

Marlin took Vugs swing as a cue to throw her psychic blades, one of which lodged into the creature before it evaporated. Another ethereal dagger cut one tendril from the mound and it fell to the floor, still wriggling as if trying to rejoin the mound. She swung as movement caught her eye, stepping back towards the rest of the back and away from the shamble.

Gilnur recoiled as a second shambling mound emerged from the swampy ooze right by Azuri, several tendrils snaking through the air. Another ethereal dagger cut one tendril from the mound and it fell to the floor, still wriggling as if trying to rejoin the mound

She gasped, the bag pipes deflating, and she gestured. A magical hand, edged in blue, appeared and began stroking the shambling mound approaching her.

“Aw, does this feel good?”

The mound did not appear to notice the hand and a tendril rapidly swung down, impacting the log where Azuri had been sat with a crunch.

Azuri finished her dodging twirl and backed away from it, away from the party.

“That’s a little forward,” she called and crouched behind a bush. “That was rude!”

Aiden chanted quickly and a bolt of blue-grey lightning erupted from his sword, arcing through the air into the shambling mound. The lightning flashed around the mound then seemed to be absorbed as the loose tendril was re-absorbed into the morass and continued to wave, batting Gilnur’s next shot into the ground.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Aiden said, a little helplessly.

“No kidding,” Seth replied, backing up next to Gilnur as he sent a firebolt into the mound; the leafy mass hardly singed from the hit.

Vug roared. “Kord will guide me!” Gilnur could almost see waves of power emanate from him and the shambler shuddered and turned away, as if to retreat. Vug’s halberd ripped a sizeable branch from it as it moved away.

The shambling mound however lurched forward, multiple tendrils slammed down onto Azuri who screamed briefly before she collapsed stiff on the ground. The tendrils began to wrap around her and drag her comatose body into the mound itself.

Fear and anger on Marlins face as she desperately threw two of her daggers towards the mound, slicing one tendril but the other failed to penetrate the plant matter. One of the tendrils snaked around Azuri’s neck and there was a sudden crack.

“Nooo!” Barrak collapsed to the ground, weeping.

Aiden charged forward, an infernal curse at the mound, swing his sword two handed over his head and leaping, spinning around to deliver a mighty blow that in his anger was just a little off balance, just scraping leaves from one of the tendrils.

Gilnur stilled himself and his next arrow sunk deep into the rear of the mound; he coldly focussed and the arrow burst into thorny brambles that wrapped around part of the shambling aberration, any living plant matter wilting as the poisonous thorns dug in.

Seth unleased a firebolt, shock evident in his incantation, and more so when the wet plant matter again did not show much damage from the impact.

Vug was already running and reached Azuri’s body, ignoring the tendrils pulling her still form. His hands glowed with a warm, soothing light and he pressed them against her back. The warm light suffused her body.

For just a moment.

It then just dissipated into the swamp air as her lifeless body was drawn further into the mound. The mound turned from them all and the horrible thought occurred to them that it was now seeking to retreat and digest this new meal.

As it moved, Aiden still low from his last attack, swept the blade back through the aberration, a trail of grey light in its path, plant matter splattering the ground. It recoiled from the blow and moved into the swamp, the brambles slashing into its now somewhat reduced form before it shifted, and the brambles fell apart.

His arm at full extension, Vug strike deep into the shambling mound, tearing out what had once been a bush then turned with a growl as the first shambler loomed behind him, now returned.

“Somebody kill that thing!” He pointed quickly to the retreating mound, now at the edge of the pool, as he brought his weapon to bear against the first swipe of the shambler.

Marlin hurled one then the other of her daggers, seemingly with no impact and Aiden leapt spinning to bring the blade down deep into the decaying substance of the mound, twisting the blade as he wrenched it out.

Gilnur, moving forward as the mound continued into the water, fired hastily and the arrow shot over, embedding into a tree some distance away.

Seth also moving up was chanting. A sickly green light formed in his hand and he thrust it out towards the shambler swiping at Vug.

For an instance, Gilnur was sure it had missed but he blinked and there was a splattering of acid upon the shambler, it’s matter rapidly dissolving under the caustic liquid, the chronal images of the avoided miss disappearing into the arcane weave

As it recoiled from the damage, Vug thrust his halberd in and the shambler collapsed from its humanoid shape back into a shivering mound, tendrils still scything through the air. As he pulled from the halberd from the shambler, he moved closer to the retreating mound, Azuri’s body now completely covered in the shambling mound’s plant form.

It roiled forward, almost rolling and skating across the mirk; Aiden’s blade stabbed straight and it left another tendril as Vug’s halberd reached over and ripped another supporting branch from within before it continued across the water and away from them.

The shambler jerkily moved up closer to Vug but its form fell apart under the acid and it collapsed into a steaming pile of dead and rotting plants.

Marlin switched her aimed dagger towards the retreating mound but it’s undulating form twitched suddenly and the dagger flew wide, vanishing into the air as it missed its target.

Aide reversed his blade in his hand and tensed; his form blurred into dark grey smoke before reforming in the water ahead to the side of the mound. He swept the still reversed blade, but the jerky movements and transported form had him slightly off balance and it swung high.

As Aiden retook both hands on the hilt again, Gilnur scored another arrow, missing Azuri’s form and cracking a thick tree branch that seemed to be supporting the mound. The dragonborn continued to advance, by now at the edge of the water, keeping the distance close.

Seth remained where he was, chanting again and a second acid arrow sped true, coating the mound with acid.

Vug stormed into the water but misjudged his next swing and grimaced as a tendril lashed out against him. As the bugbear took a defensive stance, Marlin sent two more daggers spinning after it, one lodging into the mound, leaving a trickle of green-yellow sap as it disappeared.

Aiden swung at the mound again, but a tendril whipped into the blade as he brought it across and parried the blow to the side. The shambling mound, by now much reduced in size from its first appearance continued to plunge away through the water, seeking refuge from the pursuers.

Gilnur’s next arrow was again batted away, disappearing into the swamp water with a dull plunk but Seth was able to get a firebolt into the ragged hole caused by the acid and a thin line of smoke emerged.

As the mound continued forward, Vug stayed on it. He battered away one of the last tendrils with the shaft of his halberd and plunged the blade to the core of the mound, yelling as he triggered another blast of radiant energy into the aberrations core and pulling his weapon free to reveal a scraggy shrub in the middle.

There was a blur and another of Marlin’s psychic blades whirled through the stem of the shrub, bisecting it. The mound just crumbled into the water, Azuri’s still form left floating as the plant matter of the shambling mound decayed into the water.

Aiden gently picked up Azuri’s body and brought it back to the comparatively dry land they had been following, softly laying her down in a repose. He took off his hat then the scarf that had been masking her face, a mix of grief and anger on his face.

Gilnur moved over to Barrak, still curled in a foetal position, and touched him lightly on the shoulder. The barbarian growled at him.

“Hey, it’s over,” Gilnur held his arms out. “You okay?”

Barrak stared wildly at him then his head snapped over to Azuri’s corpse. His face fell.

They all stood in silence a moment then Aiden reached into his pack, pulling out a small shovel and he began to dig in the soft earth. Then Barrak started as well with his hands before Gilnur silently handed him his own shovel which the barbarian took with an angry nod.

Breathing out heavily, the draconblood began to look for spent arrows, trying to keep his mind from another senseless death.

He stepped into the water and noticed Bhumb still low in the water. The little frog man looked up at him.

“Why no run? Mounds not move fast”

“I know.”

“Why no hide? Bhumb say to hide?”

“I know. I think Azuri thought she was more hidden, I guess.” It sounded hollow even as he said it.

“My friend?” Bhumb raised himself out of the water, his eyes very wide. Gilnur just gestured behind him and carried on, as he heard Bhumb splashing behind him, headed to the rest.

Gilnur was numb for a few moments, mechanically scooping arrows from the mire and gently freeing one from where it had wedged in a tree bough.

He became aware that the rest of the group were getting louder and he looked over to see Aiden and Vug squaring off against each other, tension evident, eyes locked on each other.

He headed back over.

Bhumb was hovering over the still form of Azuri.

“We take back. Mimi fix. Mimi fix!” He was holding her limp hand and from the tone he had been repeating this for a bit.

Aiden was the first to break the stare. “Fine.”

He swept Azuri’s body onto his shoulders and started off back the way they had come.

“Not going to wrap the body? Show a little respect?” Vug’s voice was hard.

“Whatever for,” Aiden shouted back. “For your precious gods?”

“Yes,” Vug boomed simply. “But also, for a little respect for the rest of us.”

Aiden half turned. “I don’t think Azuri has a god. And she’s dead.” He snapped. “So, she won’t care about respect.”

“And if she had respected a god then, perhaps, she would not now be dead.”

“There’s no gods here, Vug. Just death.” Aiden whirled on his heel and continued onwards, Bhumb running alongside him.

Gilnur stepped in front of Vug, not certain if the bugbear was going to take that slur to his patron. “Not here. Not now.”

The bugbear just stared at the draconblood a moment, then at Aiden. Gilnur followed his gaze.

They set off in the wake.

***

Aiden set a hard pace as the gloom descended. Gilnur paused at one point to grab a torch from his pack. He didn’t bother to grab the tinderbox as he watched Aiden carry onwards but just held his hand to the torch head and concentrated a moment, a shallow flame taking hold and the draconblood remained close to Seth who was struggling to see as well now that the night had fallen.

They made camp late that night; the tense air was still present in the morning as the group had a brief breakfast before continuing onwards into the humid air.

It was late afternoon as the party approached the wards around Mimi’s grove.

Bhumb scurried almost up to the rope.

“Mimi. Mimi! Come fix! Mimi!”

After a moment, the old lady emerged from her hu and headed over.

“Well hello there. Back already? What’s all the racket?” She saw the mood the group then saw Azuri’s body.

“Oh. Oh, you should all come in.”

She deactivated the ward and released the rope, standing aside as they entered.

Aiden placed the body on the ground near the hut.

Mimi stepped up. “I’m sorry.”

Bhumb grabbed her hand. “Mimi fix!”

“Now Bhumb, that’s hard to do …”

“You can do this thing?” Vug asked, holding his symbol to Kord.

“I have done this, Bhumb was present then. But it’s not without cost. And it’ll need materials.”

“Such as?” Barrak asked sharply.

“We’ll need to set up a ritual for it. I’ll need you involved in a circle for the whole thing. And I need a diamond. Worth a few hundred gold or more.”

“Well, I have a spade, a crowbar, some rations …” The group all looked at each other, all wondering if one of the others just happened to be carrying a stash of jewels.

“Oh, fuck this,” Aidan said, waving the crowbar and he stormed over to the hut where the dowry chest had been stored.

“At last,” exclaimed Marlin. “I’ve been wanted to get in that for days.” She hurried after him. The rest followed more slowly.

Aiden paid no attention to the wax seal lining the chest; instead ramming the crowbar into one of the corners and heaving. The chest, made from sturdy wood, held for a moment then one of the timbers cracked and the chest lid ripped from the lock.

Marlin and Aiden dived into the clean, fresh straw that was used for packing material and began to lay out their findings; a finely embroidered wedding dress, fine crockery wrapped in white tissue, a wooden box with silver cutlery inlaid. Towards the bottom there was a well carved and engraved box which was fastened with a gold catch. Releasing the catch revealed this box contained a selection of gold jewellery, emerald rings and necklaces with shining pearl. And an exquisite set of diamond earrings set in white gold.

Aiden picked them up and showed them to Mimi.

She nodded, “I think those would do.”

They left the chest and headed back.

“Now we shall see if the gods wish this girl returned to this realm,” said Vug solemnly.

Azuri’s body was brought into the hut and laid out on the stone floor. For several minutes they found themselves loitering as Mimi used chalk to inscribe runes around the body; Gilnur recognised a couple but most were unknown to him. The old druid knelt at Azuri’s head and directed the others to stand around them with Bhumb directly behind her.

“This will take as long as it takes. But I need you all to remain in your places until it is complete. There is a risk and I can not guarantee your friend will return.” Mimi took a deep breath, exhaled, drew in a breath then began to chant.

Seconds drew into minutes. Around them, the group felt the temperature drop and the candles around them began to flicker and pulsate in time with a rhythm that was just a little off with them all. Gilnur could see his breath mist as the air grew chill and it almost felt like their breath was starting to collect in the air before them, gathering over the still body they surrounded.

His gaze flicked over to Aiden and he wondered if this was how his friend had returned. The atmosphere was unsettling but there was no malevolence he could sense, and he had a sudden sense that this was not what had happened. Aiden had removed hat and mask again and had laid the sword down behind him, though its hilt was touching his ankle, as he watched the ritual before him.

Gilnur had the sense of whispers just at the edge of his hearing and his gaze darted around. Seth was fascinated by the ritual whilst Vug radiated a serene calm, one hairy paw on his symbol of the Stormlord. Aiden and Barrak were staring equally intensely. Marlin however seemed to be struggling a little, blinking rapidly, a look of discomfit on her face.

Gilnur could hear whispers now, though it was unclear what was being said and there was certainly a swirling mist before them, a vortex forming over the diamond earrings on top of Azuri’s hands, folded one atop the other above her heart.

The dragonborn held himself rigid as he felt something like cold fingers gently rest on his shoulders, felt something like exhaled breath against his head, into his head.

Mimi’s ongoing repeated chant suddenly shot up in volume and the swirling mist rapidly condensed to a small sphere hovering equidistant to them all. The druid looked weary and there were more age lines on her face then had been when they arrived as her chant dropped to a whisper. The sphere slowly floated down towards Azuri below.

Everyone remained still, other than Mimi who continued her low chant and arcane gestures as the sphere dropped lower, lower.

It reached the diamond earrings and continued to drop, passing through them. The diamonds glittered as if lit within for one moment then began to flake away, crumbling within the sphere, the gold stretching into the sphere and seemingly evaporating into the now bright sphere which descended then through Azuri’s hands and into her chest.

There was a low sustained harmonic note and everyone seemed to rock back, as if a pressure wave had passed through them.

Into the silence came a new sound, a soft and ragged intake of breath as Azuri’s lungs filled.

She gasped. Alive.

Marlin smiled.

"Thank the gods. I need another female in this sausage party."

***

It was early the next morning.

The party had decided to rest up within the relative safety of the wards. Mimi had barely had the strength to reset her wards and had left them to their own devices, looking as weary as anyone Gilnur had seen.

Azuri looked even worse. The ritual had closed the wounds from the encounter with the shambling mounds, but she looked even more exhausted than Mimi, staying awake just long enough for a sip of water then falling into a deep sleep.

The dawn had just broken and Gilnur was stood outside the hut, near a dead log that Mimi apparently used for an outside chair. Facing the door, lost in thought, he noticed Marlin step through quietly.

They nodded at each other and stood in silence for a moment.

“That was a thing,” rumbled Gilnur. He was holding one of his daggers in his hand.

“Yes.” Marlin replied briefly.

The sun rose just a fraction higher.

“Hey, um, Gilnur? You notice anything in that ritual?”

He bit back the obvious comment referring to Azuri coming back to life and inclined his head.

“Yes,” was his simple response.

“Whatever I can do, something has changed.”

He looked at her. "That may be true for more than just you. Possibly everyone in the room."

Marlin looked back at the hut. "Surely as a druid she should be respected the cycle of life and death right? How does she justify bringing someone back from the dead?"

Gilnur was looking through her, flashes of faces. _So many faces_

"I think," he said carefully, "that somethings are not part of the natural order. Possibly whatever ritual those bullywugs started in the temple is worse than bringing back to life one adventurer who may well be key to ending it.

"Or maybe the gods decided it wasn't time for Azuri to die. Vug I'm sure could argue that point for hours."

Marlin snorted," I'm sure he could." She paused then rolled her shoulders. Gilnur couldn't tell if she was wanting to talk about something else or was just stretching. All these years on the road and he had no spent any time on learning to read people.

If she was about to say anything more then she remained silent as Vug stepped out, grunted a greeting to them.

“Back to the orcs then?” Vug asked

“Yes,” replied Gilnur. The party headed out not too long after, Azuri with no physical wounds but looking shallow and drawn, possibly her blue skin a lighter shade than it had been previously.

Bhumb, very excited to have her back, was in high spirits, splashing in pools as they returned on the journey. And though Azuri looked withdrawn, she seemed sadder to have lost her precious bagpipes, Marlin mournfully telling her of the loss just before they set out.

They made camp in a corpse of tupelo trees as the evening drew in and the next morning Azuri was a little less gaunt and had a little more colour though she was still struggling physically. Moving past where they had encountered the mounds yesterday - with no sign of the bagpipes - they found themselves approaching a gradual incline, a low series of outcroppings breaking through the water of the swamp.

They headed up, the sun now overhead and caught sight of something that could be an encampment a few hundred feet ahead in a section of broad leaf trees within a narrow valley.

“I hide here? No need closer?” Bhumb asked, jittery.

“That’s fine, Bhumb.” Said Marlin. The little creature looked worriedly at Azuri, briefly resting a webbed hand on her shoulder as she sat then he scampered back down the hill towards a pool of swamp water at the bottom.

Marlin turned to the rest, “Guess I should go see if I can find some orcs?”

“Yes,” said Gilnur. The atmosphere was still strained in the party and he hoped that fighting a common foe would help alleviate some of the tension. Marlin slinked into the undergrowth.

The others kept watch and a short time later, she remerged.

“Found an orc.”

“An orc?” Gilnur asked. “Just one?”

“That’s all we needed isn’t it?” She replied.

“We can deal with one orc,” Vug said firmly. “Come Aiden, you and I can handle this.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow but followed the bugbear as he set off. Marlin sighed and followed them back.

Gilnur looked to Barrak. “Stay here with Seth and Azuri. It’ll give us somewhere to retreat to if needed. If you hear it all kicking off, it’s also fine to come in as the reinforcements.”

He nodded at them all then headed off towards the camp. Aware that his chainmail was not stealthy, he moved slowly through the underbrush, bow held ready.

He could see smoke from a campfire and could hear snatches of guttural tones of orc voices, sounding at rest. His eyes picked out an orc on sentry detail, on top of a large fallen tree around a hundred feet in front of him and he carefully drew an arrow, holding it loosely to the bow.

Looking for his compatriots, he saw Vug and Aiden a little to his side and lower down, following the bank of a stream which flowed towards and then east of the orc camp. A second tributary joined the first just before the fallen tree and Marlin glided across that, headed around the far side of the tree.

Gilnur remained still, watching the sentry, who certainly wasn’t the most alert.

Vug and Aiden reached the tributary and crossed, choosing speed over stealth as they were now within twenty foot of the tree. As they crossed the water with weapons drawn, there was a sudden movement beyond and Gilnur saw Marlin dive back, a closing net barely missing her as a young tree whipped up.

There was a bell attached to the net and it rang madly as the empty net closed ten feet up in the air, swinging to and fro. There were sudden yells from the camp and the sentry started to his feet. Even from his position, Gilnur could see the sentry’s eyes widen as he saw an armed human just scant feet from him, a bugbear following closely.

Gilnur nocked the arrow.

“Game time,” he murmured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the time of writing, (May 220) the Soulknife rogue class was in Unearthed Arcana and had a recent update, putting more emphasis on the psychic blades and psionic enhancements to ability checks with the loose of the broader psionic options.  
> The ritual for raise dead provided a handy option to explain this chance in some narrative form (though this may need to be explored in more detail)


	4. Gilnur: A Bloody Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the alert raised, the party assault the orc camp and find what the hunters have caught

Looking behind him, Gilnur could see Seth and Barrak running forward, trying to catch up, as the ringing bell signalled a call to action. Azuri trailed in their wake, still impaired from her dip beyond the veil, the weight of death still bearing down on her, despite the two days since her soul had been recovered. 

The draconblood looked back to see Aiden’s sword stab upwards, lodging deep into the sentry’s hip and up into his torso. Vug’s tall frame thrust over Aiden and split the orcs’ pelvis. The ruined remains fell off the fallen trunk as they wrenched their weapons free. 

Vug touched Aiden on the shoulder as the bugbear passed by him. A shimmer of divine energy settled on Aiden who took a second to regard it. Vug easily vaulted the fallen tree trunk; itself over seven feet proud of the ground and enough to block Gilnur’s view of what lay beyond, though Vug himself swearing gave a worrying idea. 

“Holy Fuck. It’s a tyrannosaur!” 

That whole area suddenly erupted in movement after Vug disappeared from sight. One orc suddenly appeared from around the side of the log through a rupture in the fallen tree; a second appearing on the log en before Vug finished yelling. 

Marlin cried out to the side, a psychic echo in Gilnur’s head as her telepathy linked her to the rest of the party and he looked to see one, no two orcs appear from the thick bushes where she had just narrowly avoided the net trap. As they charged her, she released one of her psychic blades at them. The first stepped low and it whistled past its shoulder, slicing into its fellow. 

From its low position, the first orc struck out, Marlins blood splattering into the stream as the second swung in and she barely dodged clear. Gilnur took aim, aware that Aiden was engaged in a desperate fight as the two swung their heavy axes at him. 

“WWAAAAAAAGGHHH!” 

The mighty war cry echoed from the orc camp and all four visible orcs seemed invigorated: slashes swinging at Marlin and Aiden. There was a sound of weapons clashing out of sight beyond the trunk 

Gilnur released his first arrow and it plunged into the wounded orc harrying Marlin; the corpse dropped into the shallow water of the stream. Barrak emerged from the undergrowth on the other bank, howling as his face extended into a bestial visage which clamped onto the other orcs throat and ripped it out in one movement. 

Seth arrived alongside Gilnur; a flame burning in his hand which he threw towards Aidens’ struggle. One of the orcs took a step back as the firebolt impacted upon it. A psychic blade from Marlin, staggering from the bloody mess Barrak had left behind her, cut into its belly and Aiden took advantage of its distraction to cleave his sword through it, spinning back to parry his other attacker. 

The last orc that Gilnur could see snarled at Aiden but, as Gilnur took aim on it, the orc seemed to witness something out of sight of them and with a sudden fear it leapt past Aiden, only focussed on running away. The human stabbed wildly as it passed him, drawing blood but the orc did not stop and continued to run into the trees, almost barrelling into Seth as it did so. 

Gilnur tracked him, about to shoot, when he saw a group of three orcs retreating further along the stream and away from the camp. He stopped tracking the lone runner and focussed on them. The arrow flew straight along the stream and hit the middle orc whereupon Gilnur channelled arcane power through the weave. A burst of force energy detonated from the arrow, sending all three orcs stumbling. 

Seth continued forward with Marlin, as Aiden climbed onto the trunk. 

His curse echoed through the trees then he turned to his left and jumped down, sword raised to strike whatever enemy he had seen beyond. Barrak was already out of sight in the bushes. Gilnur caught movement to his side and saw Azuri making her way towards the tributary, slowly catching up. 

Hidden from sight Aiden cried out, more in frustration than pain from what Gilnur could tell to start; when the scream was abruptly cut short, Gilnur knew that Aiden had been dealt a mortal blow and the draconbloods mouth curled into a snarl. 

Hearing the scream, Seth paused near to the fallen tree. He looked over to Marlin and stepped back as one of her psychic blades whistled past him then the other. Seth looked shocked at her then thought to look behind him. 

“Oh shit” he whispered. 

Charging up the stream, the three orcs had regained their senses and were now charging towards him, weapons drawn and hungry for blood. The human froze as they rushed him, water splashing, weapons raised, and mouths open in an angry howl. 

As they neared within just a few feet of him, a splash to his side signalled Gilnur also arriving at a run. The draconblood exhaled and a column of acidic energy vomited from his snout. The nearest orc stopped still, the noxious energy only grazing him; the second was not as fortunate and it collapsed wailing as the cloud roiled around it; the orcs bulk largely preventing the final orc from damage. 

Seth took advantage of the distraction to scramble away as Gilnur squared off against the orcs, his longbow on his back and the turtle shell shield on his left arm. He took the nearest orcs blow on the shield and hefted the bullywug spear, impaling the orc through its throat. The final orc of the group growled; the growl becoming a gurgle as another psychic blade sunk into its ribs. 

Gilnur pushed the dead weight from the spear and sprinted for the fallen trunk, ignoring the third rc as it sank to its knees, vaulting up on the top. 

He first saw the orc war chief first, long sword in hand, roaring as the bestial face of Barrak bit down onto its clavicle from behind. The war chief stood over the fallen form of Aiden, one leg pinned in a beartrap and in a pool of his own blood from a suddenly closing wound as Vug was withdrawing his hands, a divine glow fading around them both. 

Aiden gasped as he started back to consciousness and Gilnur’s gaze moved around and he beheld the orcs captured prize for the first time. 

Lying on the ground was a large Tyrannosaurus Rex. Its reptilian flanks rose and fell as it breathed deeply and its eyes were languid, as if drugged. Several ropes had been strung over the monstrous beast, holding it to the ground with pegs adapted for the task.

“Fuck,” breathed the dragonborn, very glad that the enormous predator had already been subdued and was restrained. 

However, two orcs in plate armour, one to each side of the huge beast were savagely hacking at the ropes, intent on releasing their trophy. Not willing to allow this, Gilnur leapt to the ground, striking the spear towards the orc crouched before him. The orc’s armour rang as the spear blade scraped down it and it agilely swung out of the way, brandishing a gleaming great axe which Gilnur danced back from, hitting the tree trunk behind him. As he swung away, he saw Seth scramble to the top of the trunk. 

“Oh shit.” 

Gilnur and the plated orc both feinted opposite ways. GIlnur ducked behind the shield and saw four missiles of raw arcane power shot impossibly fast from Seth’s outstretched fingers. The first impacted against the roaring war chief, silencing him mid-roar; and the following missiles tore jagged holes into his chest as his body collapsed. 

Marlin appeared by Seth, wounds apparently a little healed. She recoiled from the sight of the somnambulant dinosaur then readied her psychic daggers and released them both towards the plated orc. Gilnur pushed away from the tree trunk as the daggers impacted harmlessly on the chestplate and brought the spear in from the side, slicing into his opponents armpit. 

The orc grunted. It saw movement to its flank and batted away a thrust from Vugs halberd as he joined the fray from a distance then brought its great axe sharply into Gilnur’s hip. Gilnur grimaced from the pain then felt suddenly woozy. 

The world was spinning and there were two orcs now orbiting before him, teeth bared. At the back of his mind, a detached part of him noted that this was probably the poison that had been used to quell the dinosaur behind the orc but mostly Gilnur was aware that his limbs were leaden. Holding the shield and the spear aloft was a chore. 

He was vaguely aware of arcane bolts whizzing past him; the orc stepping back as a firebolt singed it with the flames stabbing colours into Gilnur’s head as the images whirled before him. The orc froze abruptly as Vug managed to break through the orc’s defences, and the blood droplets seemed to glitter in the sunlight. 

Seeing an opportunity, Gilnur stabbed the spear forward straight through the orc. It didn’t react and Gilnur just realised that the blurred images had distracted him when the great axe swung into the shield he somehow got in the way; the impact jarring him.

“Get the other,” he slurred, his tongue thick in his mouth. 

Faintly he heard Azuri’s high pitch chanting, a bright metallic ringing tone and the orc before him collapsed. 

Shaking his head to try to clear it, Gilnur stumbled back to the trunk and unsteadily climbed it, hearing the clash of weapons as Vug engaged the last orc; hearing the growling pant of Barrak leaping into the fray and he reached for the longbow. 

His vision was still spinning as he sighted towards the final orc fending off attack. More of the magic missiles impacted against it, rocking it a moment before it swept Marlin’s psychic blades out of the air. Vug cried out to Kord and thrust in, the orc yelling in pain as another burst of divine power sent it stumbling against the curled tail of the T-rex he had failed to release. 

Gilnur ignored Marlin darting past the tyrannosaur and seeking a better viewpoint for her daggers. The next arrow shot from his bow and flew straight through the blurred image of the orc; his poisoned sight again betraying him. Gilnur concentrated as Barrak lunged in and as the raging barbarian's teeth closed around the orcs unarmoured throat, Gilnur channelled his energy. His double vision disappeared sharply in time to see the orcs life blood spurt out from the jagged wound in its throat. As the final orc collapsed to the ground, twitching, Gilnur felt his healing knit the ragged edges of his wound together. 

He remained still, collecting his strength as Barrak’s bestial face reformed into his once more human face; as Aiden broke free of the bear trap that had held him and swiped his sword savagely through the eyes of the warchief that had downed him. 

Gilnur remained in place as they all looked at the still restrained form of the tyrannosaur. He scanned the faces of his companions; from the anger on Aiden as he spat on the body near him to the wounded pain on Vug and Marlin; from the shock on Seth’s face to the wonder on Azuri and Barrak. 

And he looked again at the tyrannosaur before them all. Just what on Exandria were they going to do with this? 


	5. Gilnur: Swamp Travails

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The orc camp is dealt with but there are still bones to locate. And our party have more to accomplish in the K'tawl Swamp ...

It was Barrak who reacted first.

His bestial visage shifted back to his human form and he shook his shoulders. Then he stepped forward to the restrained dinosaur.

“Ah, you are a beauty.” 

So saying he leant forward and had his body leaning on it’s flank, letting the slow breathing lift him up and back again.

“Are we killing this now?” Gilnur asked, arrow nocked. He noticed Marlin take a firm grip on her psychic blades.

“Of course not!” Exclaimed Azuri.

“We are not going to slaughter this beast while it is restrained,” Vug stated, leaning on his halberd as the adrenaline wore off and he began to really feel his injuries.

“Best time to slaughter it,” Gilnur muttered to himself. From her body language, Gilnur was pretty certain Marlin was in agreement. 

Azuri gestured grandiosely, uttering arcane words. What then followed from her lips was a very passable impression of a T-rex snarl. The restrained dinosaur rumbled in response.

Gilnur moved carefully to the corpse of the armoured orc they had killed before it and hefted the greataxe. The weight was actually pretty good. He squinted down at the orc - it stood a little taller than he did and he wondered if the fit would be suitable for Vug.

As the dragon born moved towards the tyrannosaurs tail, Azuri looked up.

“Not getting much from him. Seems to be a loop of “kill, rend, tear, eat, repeat. But he isn’t well. I’ll keep trying.” As the tiefling went back to her miniature dino roars, Gilnur, Vug and Marlin began to check through what there was of the orcs camp.

It was quickly obvious that the orcs were travelling light, with little more than the rusty weapons and hide armour on their backs. Aiden picked up the orc chief’s long sword, still looking more than a little surly at how events had transpired. He scowled even more as he regarded a pair of white gloves attached to the chief’s belt and realised that they were made from actual elf hands.

There was chanting behind them and Azuri, stepping clear of the T-rex’s head, touched the side lightly near to Barrak. Some of the wounds on the great beast knitted up a little.

“I’m trying to convince it that we mean it no harm, but I’m not certain I’m getting through. Think it may be drugged or something.”

Gilnur looking over to her. “Probably the poison they have on their weapons.”

“You think?”

Remembering the effect the one swipe had on his still aching hip, Gilnur nodded. “For sure. Also, you may want to heal Vug before the large beast that could easily kill us.”

Azuri turned swiftly to see Vug sat on the floor as he slowly removed the plate armour from an orc body. His halberd lay in the dirt beside him and there was a rivulet of blood from a wound in his side, along with several other gashes. The tiefling hopped over to him, apologising profusely. As she finished, Vugs open wounds now closed. Gilnur spoke up again.

“If we aren’t killing it here - “

“No,” said Azuri, Barrak and Vug in an off-beat chorus

“-then perhaps you could ask it where it last killed any other dinosaurs. Presumably that would be recently and nearby and we can get bones from an already dead creature?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

Gilnur went back to exploring the camp. Beyond a couple of small logs dragged near a campfire, and a pile of leaves that presumably was serving as blankets, there was nothing else. Checking the bodies, Gilnur could see that one had a necklace of small tooth, possibly gnome but he wasn’t going to take it off to check.

Another had a white shafted javelin that on closer look, appeared to have been carved from a single bone.

“That’s one,” Said Marlin.

There was a dreadful gnashing sound and the two whipped around to see that Vug had finished doffing the armour and had used the butt end of his halberd to push the orc body close enough to the drowsy snout of the dinosaur that it could reach it from it’s restrained position. It’s jaws cracked the body and bit down, rending the corpse into two chunks and swallowing each chunk whole. Gilnur considered it prudent to check that the ropes attaching it to the ground were decent.

Largely they weren’t; of the ropes restraining it, maybe a third had already be severed during the attack and another third were nicked and fraying from the attempts to release it. Ensuring that he didn’t inadvertently undo any ropes still properly holding it down; he took some time to retie the ropes to the metal spikes driven deeply into the earth.

Azuri sat worryingly close to the creature as she sketched out a crude map with charcoal on a scrap of leather.

“We should have some parchment really.” She murmured to herself.

“In a swamp?” Marlin replied. “It would be far too water-logged to be of any real use.”

“It’s a good thing he says that he hadn’t travelled too far from his last meal.

The tyrannosaur snorted and Azuri patted it absently. “Yes, revenge, rend, eat. I know.”

From what Gilnur could tell, they just needed to follow the stream down until they reached a lake. No idea of scale of course but presuming that it had eaten that morning, it wouldn’t take them too long. He looked up at the sun, setting low in the horizon. Maybe not a journey for today though. He harnessed arcane power for a moment and opened his palm out. An image of moonlit clouds morphing into a overcast day hovered in his palm for a few seconds. Tomorrow would be fine weather wise at least.

As he lowered his hand, Aiden walked up to him.

“Hey, Seth’s still keen to check on the captain. Have to say I like the idea of setting up a rearguard area, somewhere to retreat to if things go awry. Think that you can keep an eye on the cubs here and I’ll take our wizard to the ship?”

“Divide and conquer,huh?”

“Something like that. I’m trusting you to keep them alive.”

“I make no promises.” He said it with a slight upturn of his lips - for a moment, they were back in the Greenwatch. “We’ll head upstream to look for the bones we need then take them back to the old lady. Don’t think we’ve decided where to go afterwards. Both the lake of sahaugin and the wizard are east and north from what Mimi has mentioned so if you or Seth are trying to track us down, dead in that direction.”

Aiden nodded. “Do you trust the old lady?”

Gilnur regarded him. “She hasn’t given us reason to distrust her yet. Whether she is telling us everything, I do not know. But we have precious little else in the way of help here.”

Aiden nodded solemnly. “See you in a few days then.” They lightly batted the bottom of their raised fists to each other then Aiden gestured to Seth and the pair set off downstream.

Gilnur watched his friend of old depart, contemplatively.

“Hey,” the low tone of Vug reached his ear. “Where they going?” The bugbear came to stand next to the dragonborn.

“Aiden and Seth are going to head back to the ship and check on the captain. See if he is still alive and set up a base if we needed to retreat to somewhere in a hurry.”

Vug didn’t respond beyond a low rumbling. Gilnur turned to him.

“Your attitude to Aiden changed a few days ago. What happened?”

Vug turned to look at him. “What do you know of his sword?”

Gilnur inhaled sharply and looked back downstream. “There’s a story there.”

“Well, we need to get the orc bodies together. To keep our dinosaur friend fed, if nothing else. And I need assistance with that, right at the moment. We need to pick a spot to rest tonight as well.”

Glnur nodded. “I say rest early then we’ll set off just before dawn; hopefully avoid other larger predators if we get to where we need to be before the sun gets too high. If Azuri’s map is to be believed.”

“Yes, and you can tell me the story of Aiden whilst we work.”

The sun was dipping below the horizon once they had finally set up a camp, a little distance from the restrained and slumbering tyrannosaur. Vug by this point was barely conscious as the strain of the day caught up with him and the rest were not too far behind. With the light now fading, Gilnur offered to take first watch and the rest gratefully fell into slumber under the cover of a patch of thick bushes. The dragonborn shrugged into his new armour; him and Vug having divested the now dead orcs of their plate and Gilnur knew he needed to spend a bit of time getting used to the extra weight, his chainmail now in the bugbears collection of what they were calling ‘party loot’ for now.

Gilnur paced near the stream, where the open area would give him a little more warning of anything coming and where the last of the evening light didn’t affect his lack of dark vision too much.

Around two hours in, just as he was considering transferring the watch to another member of the party, Bhumb, who had crept up to join them as they made camp, came splashing down the stream.

“Person coming, Person coming.”

He carried on down the stream, obviously preferring to stay in water rather than hide, at least for now.

Gilnur became aware of a shape travelling down the tributary. Sighting down the bow, he could see that the figure was wearing white; a flash of magic power clearing the grime of their surroundings leaving the robe white. He had a sudden flashback to another form appearing in a glowing robe, a vision in the unlikely surrounds of a Stilben sewer and blinked to shake his head of the sudden memory. That woman was definitely not in the swamp now.

The figure, a glow from her outstretched palm, had continued closer and Gilnur moved nearer to his sleeping comrades, ready to wake them if needed.

“Hold there, stranger!” He called and the figure paused.

“Ah, I didn’t expect to meet anybody about here. Well met!”

The voice was female, and human, if Gilnur was any judge - which would explain the use of magical light.

“May I approach?” The figure asked, politely.

“Close enough for us to see you.” He didn’t know if any of the others had awoken but it wouldn't hurt to let the newcomer know that he wasn’t alone. His bow followed her as she came to the opposite bank. The light in her hand came from a silver bracelet with two icons attached to it. The woman looked young, and walked athletically, not really requiring the quarterstaff that she appears to be using as a walking aid. The light shimmered off a cloak of white atop following robes which matched the long white mane of hair that fell loosely past her shoulders. Silver jewellery caught the light as did the chainmails interwoven into her robes.

“Hello dragon born,” she said, coming to a halt. My name is Kynareth. Please do call me Kyne.”

“I'm Gilnur. What are you doing here?”

“I am a traveller, looking to bring the light to those who need it.” She held up her bracelet and Gilnur recognised that one was the symbol of the Dawnfather though he didn’t recognise the other.

“By yourself?” 

“At the current time.”

There was a rustle behind him and Gilnur heard Vug loudly.

“In Kords name, Gilnur be quiet! It is not my time for watch surely!” His loud tones started the rest of the group awake.

“We have company.” Gilnur replied, lowering his bow but not taking his eyes from the cleric before him. “This is Kyne, a traveller. Kyne, my loud friend there is Vug. Marlin the lady to my side and Barrak to the other. Azuri completes our party over there.

“Hello!”

Kyne smiled and nodded at them all. 

“The light’s blessing upon you all.”

“Would you care to join us for the evening?” Gilnur asked. “Had you come a few hours earlier, it would have been orcs greeting you rather than us.”

“Company would be appreciated. If you would have me.”

She crossed the stream, again using her magic to dry her robes where they had been splashed. Marlin re-stoked the campfire and Vug came to look closer at Kyne.

“I recognise the symbol of Pelor on your wrist but not the other.” The bugbear pointed at a ring of seven stars surrounding a pair of female eyes.

“That is the symbol of Selûne.”

Vug shrugged. “Never heard of her.” 

“Her light watches when Pelor can not.”

Gilnur caught Marlin roll her eyes but all their attention was caught by a loud rumble.

Kyne looked worried before Azuri spoke. “Oh don’t worry, that’s just our pet dino. He says hello”

Marlin sighed. “Azuri, that’s a tyrannosaur that would eat us if it could. And your magic speaking to animals has certainly faded by now.”

“He may well be saying hello!”

Gilnur gestured to Kyne to take a seat. “Explaining the tyrannosaur will take a bit.”

There was a loud snore and he looked to see that Vug had fallen asleep again.

***

Dawn had not yet broken when Gilnur roused himself and began to don the plate. Marlin stood on watch to one side as the night began to fade. The dragonborn could see her looking towards Kyne with a little suspicion as the cleric knelt in prayer, facing east to where the sun would rise.

There was a rustle and a slight thud - Azuri straightened herself and gave a tree trunk an absent pat as she stepped to one side and walked over to Marlin. The tieflings gaze remained locked on the praying Kyne.

“Is she joining us?” Azuri asked in a loud whisper.

Marlin just nodded and removed a loose twig from the tieflings hair.

It didn’t take long for the group to assemble their things and they set off as the first rays of sun broke through, lining clouds with red.

Azuri was in the lead with Marlin, holding her scribbled map high as they trekked up the bank of the stream, Bhumb remaining in the shallow water where he could. Barrak walked next to Kyne in the middle with Vug and Gilnur bringing up the rear.

After an hours travel or so, they could see the trees thinning out ahead and a short distance later, found themselves at the southern end of a large watering hole, a few hundred yards across.

“Oh, oh, dinosaurs.” Azuri said excitedly before Marlin shushed her.

A number of creatures had arrived at the water hole for their morning drink. Amongst the small amphibians and birds, were two or three broad-backed herbivores; Nodosaurus, Gilnur guessed, or something similar. There was also a single large Ngobou, the six horns and bony crest held low as it drank.

“Where were the bones?” Marlin asked.

“Trying to remember what our dino pet said, but I think it was little more up that way.” Azuri was looking towards the opposite side of the water-hole, head cocked as if trying to remember an image

“Anyone up for a little quiet look?” Vug rumbled and Marlin looked over.

“Think that’s my cue.” She paused a moment then set off into the shrubs, quickly vanishing from sight.

“ _ Vug, Gilnur, you two have telepathic link with me. _ ”

Gilnur wondered idly if there was any particular reason she had only linked to two of them for this.

After several moments, the rogue reappeared partway around the water hole, scanning the ground.

“Marlin,” Vug said, Gilnur getting the weird echo of Vug also speaking in his mind. “Azuri says to try the other side of the big beast. Thinks that’s nearer to what the t-rex responded to her.”

Marlin didn’t say anything but merged back into the shadows. Several more minutes passed, then

“ _ Okay, I have a pile of bones here. But they are very close to this large dino and I’ll need a hand getting them.” _

Vug looked over at Gilnur “ _ I’ll come over to distract it and send Barrak to you, Marlin. Gilnur will wait nearby to provide support if needed _ .

“No unnecessary killing,” he added, looking at Gilnur. “That’s what the old lady said as we started this.”

“That’s what she said about the griffon’s. No mention of dinosaurs.”

Vug glared at Gilnur a moment then waved to Barrak. Just before they set off, Kyne rested her hand on the bugbears shoulder and said quietly, “Blessings of the Dawnfather go with you.”

Vug grunted and he and Barrak set off around the side, headed deeper into the trees to circle around. Gilnur meanwhile edged slowly closer with Kyne and Azuri in his wake, pausing when he got inside of hundred feet from the still drinking ngobou, nocking an arrow.

“ _ Here we go! _ ” 

Gilnur heard Marlins’s voice in his head, even as he heard a mass of clanking as Vug emerged from the undergrowth near to the ngobou.

As he ran towards the dinosaur, the bugbear roared, much as he had in the midst of the orcs just yesterday. However, unlike the orcs, the ngobou stared him down for a moment then turned and began to paw at the ground, just as would a bull before it charged.

Gilnur saw Vug slow down as he realised that whatever he had tried hadn’t worked.

“Damnit.” Said the dragonborn matter of factly, and fired an arrow.

The arrow hit the creature in the side; and exploded into a tangled mess of thorns along it’s ox-sized flank

“Noo,” cried Vug, “Don’t kill the beast!” Even as he spoke, both Kyne and Azuri hurried a little closer. Kyne's chant and gesture left a shimmer of divine power around Vug whilst Azuri made a crude comment regarding the dinosaurs' parentage. Her voice was loud enough to make it wince, even as it sighted up on the now slightly shiny bug bear who had come to a stop before it.

The second arrow was already nocked and Gilnur let it fly, scoring another hit.

“Don’t kill it,” the bugbear cried even louder then gestured to his side. Out from the trees a little ways beyond him, emerged the proud figure of the tyrannosaur. Jaws wide open it beelined for the ngobou, tail swinging behind it.

For one second, Gilnur froze then he noticed Vug scampering towards it and realised the tyrannosaurs charge was suspiciously quiet. 

One of it’s giant feet crashed down and the bugbear just ran straight through it, pausing behind it to make his version of a tyrannosaurus roar.

The ngobou had been staring at the sudden appearance of the T-rex and obviously decided not to hang around. It ceased pawing and instead turned, running into the water. Gilnur could see blood running down it from the thorns still embedded in its flank; he could imagine Vug berating him for continuing to damage the creature but the bugbear had continued to run off into the trees so what he didn’t know about …

He, Kyne and Azuri set off into the treeline themselves and heard Barrak crashing through the brush shortly, his arms full with long bones that weren’t entirely clean of rended flesh. Marlin appeared behind him, holding a bundle of smaller bones and it was only a minute or two later when Vug arrived, a single thigh bone in his grasp.

“I told you not to harm it,” he said firmly to Gilnur.

“I can let it trample you next time if you prefer.” He responded. “But for now, lets get these back to Mimi. Kyne, Mimi’s the lady we mentioned who is helping us restore our missing charge from her changed state.”

“I look forward to meeting this druid lady of yours.”

The group headed back into the swamp. Vug, Azuri and Barrak insisted returning to check on the tyrannosaur. They approached the area to find that it was still restrained but the pile of orc bodies was no more; the dinosaur having worked enough space to at least reach the bodies they had piled before it. There was a tense few moments as Vug approached the beast from behind it and used the weight of the weapon to hack through some of the ropes at the limit of his reach before taking off at a full sprint, leaving the tyrannosaur in his wake, flexing at the much reduced ropes holding it down

"It should be able to break free of that." Vug said, once he rejoined them.

"But we don't to hang around here," Gilnur said, watching behind them.

"Definitely not."

It was a day or so later and they were back into the pools of the swamp, out of the rockier terrain where the orcs had been operating in. To Gilnur’s eye, they were near to where the shambling mounds had ambushed them a few days ago. The pools of fetid growth stretched out around them and the sun had now been obscured by clouds, leaving the area feel dingy, shadows stretching out.

Gilnur, Marlin and Vug were leading the group along a dirt track that was just barely out of the waters around them. They all paused suddenly.

Slowly they all turned to look at each other. There was a low sound, a shuttering wheeze that they couldn’t pin down. It was followed by a discordant howl, particularly making Marlin wince. No source was visible to either side and the wheeze took on a momentarily bubbling as if pushing through a liquid.

“What is that?” Gilnur asked.

Vug quietly murmured, his bass tone at odds to the inharmonious sounds, and an armour of ice formed around his torso and arms, settling into the overlaps of the plate armour he had taken from the orc hunters.

“What’s that?” Kyne questioned. They looked to her then to where she pointed. And realised that what they had taken for a fallen log was in fact a giant alligator. And the jarring noise was coming from the giant beast as it lay at the edge of the pool only a few dozen feet from them, only it’s hind quarters partly submerged.

With slow careful movement, Vug led the group to the opposite of the earthen bank they stood on and they gingerly began to move forward parallel to the trail. The alligator didn’t seem to pay them any mind but the off-key groan continued to emanate from it’s open mouth.

Thinking back to an encounter in a different part of Stilben's sewers, Gilnur wished for one moment that Aiden was here to properly appreciate the difference between the alligator they were slowly creeping by and the giant crocodile that they had vanquished with others, maybe a couple of weeks ago now.

After a minute or two of slow stepping the group had made it past the giant reptile and they stepped up the pace a little, keeping a close eye on the murky waters around them.

“I miss my bagpipes,” said Azuri, apparently apropos of nothing.

“Come along,” said Marlin firmly. “We mustn’t dawdle.”

***

The rest of the days travel and the nights camp brooked no encounters with any life larger than the prevalence of frogs and birds feasting on the ever present insects. With the sun obscured, the temperature remained merely uncomfortably and Gilnur remained glad that they were nearer to the northern edge of the K’Tawl Swamp - he imagined it would feel a lot more hideous if one was further south.

Kyne proved herself capable of maintaining their pace and Azuri seemed to shake of the last of the fugue state that had marked her return from the other side. With this, they arrived back at the glade of Mimi, mid afternoon the next day.

Bhumb ran out before them, crying out “Mimi, Mimi!” excitedly. He came to an abrupt halt just outside of the arcane wards but remained quivering, shouting her name excitedly.

As the rest of the group caught up to him, Mimi emerged from her cottage and waved as she recognised them. 

She released the ward nearest them and they trooped through, giving her time to reset the ward. She greeted Kyne cordially and was relieved to learn that the absence of Aiden and Seth was deliberate on their part and not the result of another fatal encounter.

The bones were deposited; Mimi confirming that she had enough and would continue to get them ready.

“And where are you going to next?”

There was a series of blank looks.

“As I recall,” said Vug after the pause, “the wizards stinky breath -”

“Serpent's Breath,” muttered Gilnur.

“- was ‘volatile’ and it’s container wouldn’t stop it dispersing if it got too shaken. So we were thinking of headed for the gold pearl -”

“Blackened pearl.”

“- that was in the fishmans lake.”

“That depended on being able to breathe water, though.” Marlin added, looking at Mimi. “Didn’t you have some water breathing potions?”

“Ah, sadly I checked and I only have the one. Give one of you water breathing for an hour, or maybe share it for two of you for less time?”

“And you couldn't make any more?”

“I’m afraid that I haven’t found the ingredients nearby in the last few days.”

Kyne leant forward. “What exactly do you need? I’ve picked up some knowledge of herbs on my travels and could maybe assist?”

The pair digressed into a chat on ‘gillyweed’ and ‘hag’s fingers’ - apparently a tuber in the ground and not actual fingers of hags.

Gilnur looked at the others. Mimi had made up a rough map of where the various components for her ritual needed to be sourced. The griffons next had been crossed off and Gilnur also crossed off one of the orc camps indicated. There were a couple of others that Mimi had heard reports of the orcs being seen at, however she got her information. 

“If Kyne is able to find the correct herbs for the potions, she’ll probably need a few days to find them.”

“And then time to create the potions,” Vug added and Gilnur nodded.

“Right. I suggest that we head to the lake first and double check that we will definitely need the potions.”

“In case the fish men don’t spend all their time under water?”

“Yeah. We had been talking about checking in with Captain Bagshot but Aiden and Seth have that covered now. So with that in mind, the lake is pretty much on the way to the wizards tower. Let’s head past there, check it out then continue to the wizard. He may have some means of breathing under water or we may be able to bring the Serpents Breath back with enough time for Kyne to mix up potions for us if the wizard can’t help.

“Can’t really think of anything else that we can do at this point.”

There was a general murmur of agreement.

The party remained at Mimi’s for the evening rest, enjoying a hearty rendition of Azuri’s new song, ‘The Legend of the Bagpipe Crocodile’ - despite Gilnur’s protestations that it had been an alligator they had come across earlier.

The next day dawned and the group took their leave. Bhumb headed out before them, his enthusiasm almost infectious as he led them towards the lake.

After a few hours of trekking through the swamp however, the constant buzzing of flies in the still air, the temperature rising with the sun and the absence of clouds in the sky this day, spirits had definitely sunk. They did not rise as the trees opened up before them and the group squelched to a halt before a large lake. Around a mile away, a river could be seen running into the lake and directly across from it, it resumed its meandering flow, heading, Gilnur guessed, to where the ship had been grounded - it would have been easier to guess if he could remember where that had happened or had come back to it since.

“What a surprise,” Marlin snapped. “The underwater fish people have no trace that is not under water!”

Indeed, looking across the lake, there was no sign of any structures sticking out of the water nor anywhere along the shore line. No islands in the lake and no visible open areas that appeared to hide tunnel entrances. The water itself was murky and the bottom quickly disappeared from sight

“Worth checking,” grumbled Gilnur.

“Yes,” agreed Vug. “We know for certain now that we need to get some means of breathing under water and it may be that Kyne is now our best way of doing it. But for now, we continue north.”

They set off around the lake. The ground was surprisingly dry for the proximity to water until they reaching the river and continued up it’s western bank. It quickly became obvious that this river was prone to flooding its immediate environs and Gilnur revised his estimate of two days travel up to three days. The ground was muddy and there were patches of mosquitoes so thick they had to retreat further from the river to avoid the swarms of biting insects. The rest of the day was spent trudging through the swampy mud at the edge of the river’s flood basin and a lucky find of a grove of cyprus trees that had become entangled and provided for somewhere dry to spend the night. The one other speck of good news was that Kyne had been able to find small clumps of each of the particular herbs required for the potion; she was confident as well that she would be able to find more so the options on having enough water breathing potions for them at least to have one each was a little more likely.

The next day started with a slog through the sludge but they seemed to have another stroke of luck as they came across an embankment, coming from the west that turned north to follow the flood plain, at least for a stretch. It was wider than some of the more remote tracks that Gilnur had travelled in the past and promised to speed up their journey a little. They began to follow it without hesitation.

It was late morning as they followed the small undulations of the embankment. The murky pools were stretching out either side of them and Kyne had already found a couple more clumps of gillyweed and another patch of the hags fingers.

The monotony of the journey meant that Gilnur and Vug, leading them along this stretch were mechanically treading forward, listening to Azuri pointing at the passing clouds and describing what she could see in their shifting forms. It was Kyne behind them, eyes open for more of the needed plants who tapped Vug on the back and pointed past them.

“Company ahead.” 

They were just about to crest a small rise, little more than 10 foot or so but just enough to partially hide them from a group coming the other way. Three, no, four figures were heading south with two pulling a laden handcart. They regarded the incoming group for a moment before Vug and Gilnur realised that the broad shoulders and swinging arms meant that more orcs were on the way.

“We could ambush them!” Vug said quickly.

Gilnur looked at the low banks either side dubiously; the embankment was only a few feet above the level of the swamp water and he doubted how well they could hide with only a few moments to take cover. Plus with both Aiden and Seth missing, and with no idea of Kyne’s combat capability, the dragonborn would feel happier if they could keep the distance between them.

Vug was still gesturing to the banks and Barrak took a few tentative steps

“Are we hiding?” He asked.

Gilnur looking again up the trail where the orcs had continued headed along, the lead two bickering about something and the two on the hand cart heads down. His eyes saw what the hand cart held and he promptly decided to start the fight at a distance.

The arrow was drawn swiftly and he released it in one motion. The arrow passed between the two leading orcs and hit one of the armoured orcs behind, sinking into its side. Gilnur channelled as it did so and a sphere of force energy exploded out from it, impacting the other armoured orc on the cart as well as one of those in front. It also impacted the cart and there was a hissing screech, which Gilnur, and the rest heard echoed in their minds.

Vug groaned but gestured and the air seemed to solidify around him, forming a patina of glistening frost on his armour. 

Barrak tensed ready to charge but Bhumb, recoiling from the psychic scream, spun and collided with him and the pair toppled into the swamp water with a wet splat.

As the orcs' pulled weapons free, Kyne pointed forward with her bracelet and a bolt of light arced from her hand, slamming into one of the orcs, sending it sprawling to the ground. Gilnur aimed past the charging Vug and again hit the same plated orc. The arcane power this time erupted into the poisonous brambles and they wrapped around him, thorns embedding into his flesh under the plate. 

The lead orc cried out in rage “WWAAAAAGGGHHHH!” and the two orcs each let loose a javelin, as the chief charged forward. Vug sidestepped one but the other impacted against him. The chief reached the bugbear, swiping with a long sword which Vug caught with his halberd awkwardly. The chief snarled, twisting his sword to release it and stabbed into Vug’s side, finding a gap that made the bugbear grimace in pain. 

Gilnur heard Azuri chant out to his side and watched Marlin ducking behind a fallen log, flinging two of her psychic daggers at the chief who batted one aside but had to step back as the other sliced the side of his head, leaving one ear a bloody mess.

Another psychic scream made them all pause.

“Oops,” said Azuri, “Maybe I shouldn’t insult that thing in the cart.”

Vug and Gilnur recovered first and as Gilnur released an arrow, Vug drew up to the still reeling orc, his halberd thrusting against the chief. Actinic light played on the blade of the welcome and it detonated with the hit; the chief blown off his feet and hitting the ground where he lay unmoving. 

The plated orc still by the handcart began chopping at the ropes holding whatever creature they had been transporting; shrugging off a divine blast of light from Kyne.

Seeing his arrow skim his orc target, Gilnur quickly nocked a second arrow and fired again, this arrow hitting it in the stomach. Before the orc could wrench it loose, the dragonborn recalled some of the latent talent that he had not been using and psionically he dug the arrow in deeper to the orcs gut. It coughed out blood and snarled at him; right before another of Marlins psychic blades ripped through his throat, the snarl contorting on its face as it died.

The other plated orc, still wrapped in poisonous thorns, barked something to it’s remaining comrade, as it saw Vug straighten and behind to head towards them. It’s attention was caught by Azuri’s sing-song voice and the psychic weaving in her words melted it’s brain and it collapsed.

Its comrade was already swinging a battle axe towards the cart and a massive chunk of wood flew out, ropes swinging wildly as it took a single strike then took off running.

The cart sagged and the creature within shifted, tentacles pulling against the released restraints, two with sharp bards and a third waving with three eyes now visible.

A large mouth opened, revealed rows of jagged teeth.

“Get the runner!” Vug yelled as he headed towards the aberration now revealed, halberd at the ready.

Gilnur inhaled, drawing back another arrow as he sighted on the running orc, stilling his thoughts as he heard a thunderous impact from Vugs strike, a wave of sound pulsing out into the swamp.

As the cart shattered under the impact, the aberration digging into the dirt as the divine energy pushed past it, Kyne’s voice rose above the tumult.

Gilnur focussed on the orc stumbling in the uneven ground and released the shot.


	6. Gilnur: Behind Closed Doors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our party continue the fight against more of the orc hunters, hoping to reach the wizards tower and the next item they need for the ritual

The arrow passed over the creature and the eye-tentacle whipped to follow it as it pierced the back of the running orc, finding a join at the shoulder-blade

It stumbled but continued to run. Gilnur clenched his fingers just a little and knew that the arrow had dug in a little more.

Kyne’s chant finished and motes of gold light settled on the aberration as it fought to free itself from the wreckage of the cart.

Gilnur ignored the psychic blades of Marlin seemingly unable to penetrate the creatures hide and released another arrow, cursing as the orc’s path took it past a leaning cyprus tree; the arrow embedding into a branch.

He stepped forward as Azuri scurried past him, speaking in what Gilnur took to be Infernal. The creature, the monster before them shuddered and it’s eye tentacle twisted to regard the tiefling, even as another spiked tentacle caught Vugs next swing. The head of his halberd gouged the hide away and blood trickled down, dripping to the ground.

Vug pulled back and readied for another blow as rays of scorching fire blasted out from Kynes outstretched palm, blackening the flanks of the beast.

“Wait!” Gasped Azuri, hands to her forehead. “It’s not …”

Gilnur strode forward, the next arrow on the string, putting his armoured form between her and the monster. She leant around him to continue.

“It doesn’t want to fight us, it wants to punish the orcs.”

The last orc was now maybe a hundred thirty feet away. Gilnur slowly exhaled as he trained the arrow head, leading the orc before he released.

Vug hefted his halberd, shouting back over his shoulder.

“Are you sure?” He yelled.

The arrow plunged into the orcs thigh and it stumbled, pushing itself from a tree trunk and carrying on.

With a final clatter of broken wood, the aberration freed itself from the cart.

Vug swung down with the halberd.

The blade stopped an inch from the creatures back as it continued to turn, the one tentacle with eyes locked on the stumbling orc and the creature lumbered off on three legs.

Gilnur watched it go, arrow poised. It did not turn back to them but remained fixed on its prey. 

They remained still for a few moments watching it depart.

“Someone behind us,” Said Kyne.

“Oh, hi Seth,” Azuri said brightly.

The rest turned to look at the wizard who was walking up. “Hi guys. Thanks for waiting. Did I miss anything?”

***

It was early evening. The party had carried on a little further up the trail, though there had been no further sight of orc or beast. The twisting cyprus trees were giving way to the tupelo’s that marked a change; a slight incline to the ground marking a low tundra breaking through the ground ahead. By Gilnurs estimation, this would be a continuation of the rocky terrain where they had found the griffon, possibly an offshoot of the Summit Mountains to the west.

They were all around a campfire, digesting the news that Seth had given.

“Well, Aiden and myself headed down the stream where we left you and it linked up with a larger river. We followed that down past a lake …”

“No fish people?” Marlin asked and Seth shook his head a little confused before he continued.

“Took a couple of days total but we made it to the estuary where the ship was. Right at the same time as the crew had been gathering.”

“The crew’s alive?”

“Yeah, they had run away as the bullywugs came for us and it had taken several days for them to puck up the courage to go back.”

“Or possibly the lack of rations forced their hand …”

“Maybe,” Seth shrugged. “In any case, we went in with them. There were a couple of the sahuagin as we approached but they saw the size of the group and just ran straight into the sea. Gave the crew a bit fo a confidence boost and we all boarded the ship.”

“How was Captain Bagshot?” Gilnur asked, not looking up from where he was checking the fletching on his arrows.

“Dead.” Seth replied simply, which did cause Gilnur to look up.

“From the sahuagin?” Vug asked around a mouthful of charred frog, the result of a little hunting.

Bhumb was sitting in a shallow pool off to the sides in the shadows, giving him a bit of a sour look. Barrak had given him a bit of a dressing down for stopping him fighting earlier and their frog man guide was a little dispirited at the moment.

Seth was shaking his head at Vug’s question. “Actually we think he took his own life.”

“Really?” Azuri asked. “Why?”

“From what the crew said, it was an open secret that the captain had long had a bit of a thing for Astrid, and was quite put out when the wedding was announced.

We searched his cabin and found a couple of empty flasks of a sleeping potion. We think, though we don’t know for sure, that he intended to drug us and then remove us. Possibly overboard, possibly on the shore. That would leave him with Astrid on his ship and the dowry, and plenty of time to head wherever he wanted long before Goldheath would have had any inkling that something had gone wrong.

“But the sailors joined in with the party. Even the ones who were meant to be on duty. A couple remembered a high wind rising overnight. It appears that with most of the crew incapacitated, Bagshot lost control and the ship run aground.

“So, presumably the bullywugs were just there at what was, for them, the right time?”

“That’s how it looks. We left after stabilising him to find the others. Once he woke up, he must have figured that this would all come out. He couldn’t run because of his injuries from the fallen mast we freed him from under, and without the crew, he had no hope of getting the ship moving. So he took his knife and …” Seth didn’t finish but drew his finger across his neck.

After a pause, the wizard continued. 

“We knew that you were looking to head in this direction and we knew roughly how long it would take you to get here as we had done that journey a couple of times.” Seth didn’t look towards Azuri as he said this but it was clear he was obliquely referring to her death, albeit temporary as it was.

“Aiden not come with you?” Gilnur asked quietly, but intently.

“No, he stayed to oversee the crew. Turns out he has quite a knack for organising a defence.”

“Yes he does.” Gilnur replied, his thoughts elsewhere, remembering.

“When he’s not charging headlong in some foolish death wish, at least,” intoned Vug.

“True,” Seth continued. “Anyway, we’ve removed Bagshot’s body. From what the crew tell us, the ship’s in surprisingly good shape. They reckon they can fix the mast pretty quick and the hull is intact. If we can figure out a way to get it back in the water, it’s ‘shipshape’.” He smiled at the weak pun.

“Will they wait for us?” Marlin asked.

“They said they would. Aiden has been getting them to a point to fend off any incursions from the bullywugs or the sahuagin. Those groups don’t seem to like each other so we haven’t seen any large groups, just an odd scout.”

“So once we complete these fetch tasks and get into the temple to retrieve Astrid, we could actually continue to Drynna?”

“Seems so.”

Conversation had been sparse since then.

Gilnur finished checking his arrows as the evening grew dark. The extra arrows he had purchased whilst in Stilben had all but gone, leaving him pretty much with just a quiver’s worth. There was no telling when they next would have chance to restock so he was going to have to be a little more careful with the shots for a bit.

He stood, his armour clanking, as he headed into position for the first watch.

Noticing Bhumb he stopped near the pool and crouched next to the unhappy creature.

“You okay?” He asked softly, aware that some of the group were already asleep.

“No,” was the sulky reply. “Big one mean to Bhumb.”

“Barrak is just keen to fight. Your sudden move for your safety meant he missed the fight today and he is upset that he didn't get to take part.”

“Doesn’t have to be mean.” 

“True. You know that we appreciate all your assistance while we are here, don’t you?”

Bhumb just crossed his arms, refusing to be mollified.

Gilnur thought for a moment then reached into a pouch to pull something out. Bhumb couldn’t help look over but seemed disappointed it was just a seed. Gilnur focussed on the weave and the seed suddenly twitched.

Bhumbs eyes opened wide as the seed began to sprout, quickly forming a small flower with full leaves and magenta petals.

“Pretty!” Bhumb breathed, his sulk forgotten as he reached for it.

Gilnur let him take it, the dragonborns eyes dark and hooded even in the dim light.

“Bhumb no see this before.”

Gilnur watched the little creature turning the flower over in his hand.

“You wouldn’t. These used to grow in Draconia.”

“Where that place?”

“It isn’t.” Gilnur stood rapidly and headed into the gloom.

***

They were a few hours into their trek when the squat circular tower crest the trees above them, standing proud at the top of a low ridge line that punched into the swamp. 

A covered balcony pushed out at one side of the tower below the pointed roof, giving the tower a slightly lopsided appearance.

“What is it about wizards and towers?”

“Compensating for something?”

They were following a dirt path up a gradual incline. Trees were more sparse here and the ground was rockier - rockier enough in fact that there had been no pools of water for a while. Bhumb had left them as the swampland receded. Barrak had remained to keep an eye on him - more that he lost the game of Boulder, Parchment, Shears than for any particular want - as the group felt it best at the moment that people didn’t head off on their own.

The path lead directly towards the tower and Vug took the lead, muttering a short prayer to Kord. He paused for a moment then straightened.

“There’s something in the tower.”

Before he could say more, a small shadow arced through the air and Marlin pushed Seth to one side as the shadow hit the floor and exploded with a flash. The group was scorched and there was a particular smell in the air, like burnt sulphur.

Gilnur stepped up to Seth and was helping him up when he heard a faint chuckle.

The dragonborn looked up too late as a second shape landed next to them both. There was another explosion and both recoiled from the impact, as a cloud of flame washed past them.

The chuckle became a high pitched guffaw.

“GOBLINS” Vug roared and took off towards the sturdy wooden door of the tower. Gilnur saw movement at the balcony and hustled everyone up to the tower, getting out of sight of the balcony. Another of the firebombs impacted in their wake.

Vug reached the door. It was open and the still swearing and roaring bugbear charged straight in. The rest of the party followed him in.

The room they entered took up half of the base, with a spiral staircase set in the wall at the centre of the tower. A door stood closed to each side of the staircase. There was almost no decorations in this stone room, just a snarling gargoyle statue to each side of the entrance and a frayed and faded blue rug. The blue of the rug had been stained by the red of the human body sprawled face down upon it, an obvious crushing blow to the back of the head.

Feasting on the corpse, in it’s nondescript robes, were a pair of giant rats. Vug did not even stop and continued to run for the stairs, his hatred of goblins evident. He casually squashed one of the giant rodents without breaking stride, it’s squeak cut short. Marlin darted in behind him and sent a psychic blade into the other as it turned to leap at the bugbear, catching it as it reared and a spurt of blood flew into the air as it landed heavily and lay still.

As Vug charged up the stairs, his swearing switched from Common to a different language; Gilnur guessed it as Goblin. He traded a look with Marlin and they headed after Vug, though Kyne reached the stairs first.

Headed up the spiral stairway, it opened onto a wooden floored room on the first floor level. Almost unfurnished, a single wooden chair and a standing lamp made the room look more empty.

Gilnur became aware that he couldn't hear steps behind him and stopped at that level to wait for Azuri and Seth. One of the dividing walls had a wooden door upon it but otherwise there was nothing to see in this room.

Vugs voice continued up the stairs as Gilnur pulled one then another of the short swords that he had claimed from Clasp members back in Stilben, reasoning that his longbow wouldn’t be of much use in these close quarters.

Azuri came skipping up the stairs. 

An explosion went off above and the wall next to Gilnur vibrated for a moment. It was followed by a sound that was exactly the same as a halberd squashing a giant rat, followed by a roar of victory.

Whatever had happened above, Vug was certainly alive.

“I fucking hate Goblins,” his voice echoed down. 

Gilnur was about to continue up when he heard a noise from downstairs. Seth was chanting and there was another roaring voice of a bug bear. GIlnur was momentarily confused and wondered how Vug could be in two places at once. Then he heard Seth yelp and decided that it was probably another bug bear.

“Didn’t clear the lower rooms,” he thought to himself, mentality chastising himself. Leaving Azuri on that first level, he set off back down the turning stairs.

As he descended, he came across the panicking Seth, stumbled up the steps. He recoiled as the sharp prongs of a morning star narrowly missed him and clanged against the stone walls of the stairwell.

“Found one!” Seth yelled frantically, scrambling up the stairs.

The snarling visage of a bugbear who certainly wasn’t Vug came into view, pursuing the retreating wizard, the ball of the morning star swinging lazily.

Gilnur had an instance to react; he was aware of Seth almost immediately in front of him, aware of the two swords he held and the tight quarters and the dragonborn made a split second decision that he would come to regret.

Still on his way downstairs, Gilnur pushed off the next step and leapt for the bugbear. As he did so, he tried to angle to avoid Seth

And this cost him.

The bugbear caught the movement as the dragonborn descended towards him and braced; tucking in low then reaching up behind the outstretched short sword blades, catching GIlnurs snout. Twisting to it’s side, it pushed the out of control dragonborn over its shoulder.

Still unused to the extra weight of the plate armour, Gilnur could not stop his leap and he fell through the air, past the bugbear and was flipped to land on his back behind the bugbear, rolling to the floor.

Somehow he managed to roll to his clawed feet with both swords ready.

“There’s more of them!” He yelled as loud as he could. The morningstar whooshed past his face and sparks flew from the wall as his return thrust scraped the uneven surface

The bugbear yelled something in the guttural goblin tongue and swung again at Gilnur who stepped back; the dragonborn’s riposte not making it’s target.

As the bugbear snarled, pulling it’s swinging weapon back for another swing, Marlin suddenly appeared around the corner, leaping onto the bugbears back. Holding on with one hand, a psychic blade manifested in the other and she stabbed down. 

Quicker than expected the bugbears other hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, holding the blade a scant inch from its neck. Both strained for a moment then it swung the morning star back and the spiked ball swung on it’s chain and caught Marlin on her back.

Her face contorted in pain but she remained hanging on determinedly, desperately trying to get her blade in. 

Gilnurs attention was drawn as he heard movement behind him and turned his head to see one, then two more bugbears stepping out, likely from the other room downstairs. One shouted in Goblin, which Gilnur did not recognise but the tone was dismissive, as it pulled out a mace.

Gilnur took advantage of Marlin’s distraction of the first bugbear and dodged into the downstairs run. Stepping across the dead body he angled near to the door, breathing in and exhaled a stream of acidic energy against the two new enemies.

The nearest took the brunt of the blast, crying out as the acid seared it’s hairy body. The other avoided much of it.

Gilnur readied himself as they moved towards him. He could see Marlin still wrestling with her bug bear, saw a flash of golden light and a glowing gold sickle appear in the air then all his attention went on his assailants.

His first strikes with the swords were hasty; a clumsy attempt to down one of the bugbears quickly. That bugbears sidestepped and it’s mace crunched into his side. He stepped to get away and the flail of the other one came down hard onto him, impacting his collarbone and knocking his arm numb for a moment.

He swung desperately with the other for a moment, dropping the sword from his numb arm. The next swing from the mace cracked into the wall behind him and he rose pushing the attacker away and sliding the turtle shell shield onto his arm just in time to take the next blow, the impact making his arm tingle.

There was a loud crashing and Gilnur glanced to see Vug crashing headlong into the one on the stairs; a muffled cry from Marlin as she was caught between the two bodies which clattered to the floor.

The dragonborn caught the next swing on the edge of his shield and got the flat of the sword to the bracer of Mace, his sidelong blow abruptly halted. Gilnur channelled briefly in a momentary lull and felt the wound on his shoulder knotting together a little, the numbness receding.

As the brief surge of healing died away, he became aware of another golden shimmer settling upon him.

Flail raised his weapon to strike but was suddenly unable, turning his head from Gilnur as if unable to look upon him. Mace grimaced and tried another low swing that Gilnur easily parried away. He lunged in to attack and caught a glimpse of the stairway behind his attackers.

Vug was rising to his feet, the still body of the first bugbear at his feet. Caught to his armour Marlin was lifted up as well. The golden sickle, floating in the air, had blood dripping from it’s gleaming blade and was heading toward Gilnur’s fight, Kyne squeezing past the past at the bottom and charging forward in it’s wake.

Distracted largely by the sight of Vug having to peel Marlin from him, Gilnur’s short sword caught in the armour of his target and Mace thumped the cross hilt of the sword, sending it clattering to the floor.

Flail, the acid burn still smoking a little, whirred his weapon then stumbled as Marlin somehow threw one of her blades into his back. Vug arrived, halberd gone but the great-axe he had taken in his hand which swung deeply into Flail’s back.

It roared and the golden sickle that was Kyne’s spiritual weapon sliced across it’s throat mid roar, stealing its voice as it stole its life.

Kyne reached Gilnur and put a hand to his back. Healing energy flowed into him and he felt the wounds close.

In his head he heard Kyne’s voice, “ _ The Light will protect you _ ”. It wasn’t the cold whisper that he felt when Marlin used her telepathy; this had a warmer glow.

Mace was on the back foot now, fending off attacks from Vug, keeping him between it and Marlin, who was angling for another throw with the blade in her hand.

With a high pitched war cry, Azuri suddenly ran from the stairwell and made a wild swing with the long-sword that Gilnur had only seen in it’s scabbard on her belt until now.

Mace easily turned to avoid it then swung again at Gilnur, obviously looking to take one of them down with it rather than surrender.

Gilnur took the impact full on the shield and pulled free the finely crafted spear, holding it ready. Vug brought his axe around, hoping to take advantage of it’s failed attack on Gilnur and Mace stepped back to avoid the attack.

It’s eyes widened as it realised that Marlin now had a clear line of sight and she threw two blades at it. Both sank to the hilt into it’s chest before they disparated and the bugbears life blood flowed from the wounds as it sank to its knees then fell to the floor.

“Were there any more?” Vug asked urgently.

Gilnur and Marlin shook their heads as Kyne whispered more healing magic, Gilnur nodded to her as he felt more of his strength return. Then all four looked to Azuri.

She was staring at the bead bugbear, her long-sword loosely held.

“Hmm?”

“Azuri,” Vug stepped closer to her. “Were there any more?”

“Well,” she seemed to snap out of something, “There was definitely something on the level above us.”

“Seth!” Gilnur shouted. Vug and Marlin were already running back for the stairs.

Gilnur run up after them, alongside Kyne.

They came up to the first floor to see Seth bracing himself against the door on that level.

“Definitely something in here!” He said urgently.

“What?” responded Vug not slowing.

Seth just shook his head and stepped out of the way as Vug reached him and barrelled through the door.

Marlin followed then Kyne and Gilnur followed behind.

This room, contrasting to the previous, was fully furnished. Walls were lined with bookshelves or parchments with arcane writings. There was a desk in front and the room opened out to enclose fully a hemisphere of this level.

Aligned central to this room was a circle engraved into the floor, runes set into the floor glowing faintly in a lavender hue and the arcane writings flowing into each other oddly.

Many were scuffed which Gilnur presumed was in part due to the dead body of a bugbear which appeared to have been torn apart by what appeared to be an owlbear in the centre of the magic circle.

He didn’t have time for any more observations as Vug thrust his halberd inwards to the room, toward a target that Gilnur couldn't see around the curving inner wall. The strangled gasp and blood on the blade however spoke to another bugbear opponent.

Kyne stuck her hand forward, and the symbol of Pelor on her bracelet glowed. Three swirls of fire appeared in her hand, expanding as she threw them forwards. Gilnur tried to get further into the room as he heard the impact, followed by a thump on the floor.

He caught sight of a hand falling limply, a weapon rolling from it as another bugbear charged forward across the circle, weapon held high that it brought down savagely onto Vug who staggered from the blow

Marlin stabbed in and her blade punched into the bugbears head.

It dropped like a sack of stones, weapon clattering to the floor.

Azuri stepped into the room as everyone breathed heavily, adrenaline still coursing through them.

“Yeah, that’s about what I saw.”

Vug, Marlin and Gilnur all sighed.


	7. Gilnur: Tower of Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still in the tower, our party could to uncover more surprises

For just a moment, there was just the sound of breathing.

Gilnur spoke first. “I may head back to where we left Barrak and Bhumb. Make sure that they are okay and at least are aware of likely enemies in the area.”

“This room’s messy. I’m coming with you!” Azuri said brightly.

“Sure.” He didn’t wait as he stepped out of the room, resettling weapons into their respective mounts. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he paused to collect the two dropped short swords.

He had been reckless in that last encounter and it had nearly cost him his life. Still getting used to how the plate armour they had acquired changed his weight and freedom of motion, he had gone for the stupid idea of just jumping at the enemy rather than any attempt at just attacking the thing.

True, he had been aware of Seth and the need to not accidentally impale him on the twin swords. And that most of the party were behind and would need to get close.

Even so, that was …

His line of thought was abruptly halted as there was a sudden commotion in the level above.

“We haven’t even left them alone for ten seconds,” he muttered. “Come on Azuri.” They headed back up.

Even as they entered the room, he knew something had gone gravely wrong. Kyne, Marlin and Seth were all near the desk that faced the doorway in, their attention fixed on something on the other side of the room, beyond the internal wall that held the tower's central spiral staircase.

“Fire’s not working” Seth cried, hand lowering from the gesture that he used for firebolt.

Gilnur strode up to them, noticing that Vug was missing.

The bugbear was on the other side of the room. He seemed to be holding himself at an odd angle as one of the dead bugbears seemingly lifting off the floor into what appeared to be a very geometric arrangement of silvery gold lights that reminded him of prior companions faerie fire spells, though with a colour that made him think of Kyne.

The lights shifted oddly and he suddenly realised what he was looking at - a gelatinous cube.

There was a wild moment when he considered charging forwards to stick his clawed hands into the bizarre creature before them and wrench Vug’s body out.

As he recalled his thoughts not just seconds before, practiced movements were already drawing the longbow and lining up an arrow for an easy shot. The arrow plunged into the creature and he had a split second irrational urge to trigger a bursting explosion, just to see what it looked like. But Vug was certainly in the force radius and instead the arrow erupted into a sudden growth of poisonous thorns, the poison actually visible in the cube in the corner he had hit.

There was a shimmering quiver in the ooze beast before them, Kyne’s faerie light sparkling. Gilnur realised it was squeezing back into another room on this level. He could see the thorns ripping through the cubs gelatinous mass as it moved, still dragging Vug and the other bugbears corpse with it.

Marlin and Kyne reacted first; Marlin reaching a line with the open door and throwing her psychic blades through, one then two.

This was followed by a peculiar sound, almost a popping. Kyne hurried through the door and Gilnur heard the sound of a healing spell being cast followed by the explosive sound of Vug hawking up something rubbery. As Azuri entered and cast her own healing spell, Gilnur stepped alongside the heavily breathing Marlin.

The final room on this level of the tower was a mix of store and alchemist’s workshop. There was a trail of slime through the centre and a few storage boxes had been pushed against the wall.

As Vug struggled to his feet, refusing further aid from Azuri or Kyne, Gilnur could see two further bugbear corpses. One was the body he had witnessed being collected; the other Gilnur had no idea about, though judging by the similarity between it and Vug with regard to a sudden cleanliness of armour and pinkness of skin, he judged it too had been within the cube.

He sniffed; definitely some form of weak acid, which didn’t bother him, though the others hurried out from the caustic fumes and evaporating ooze.

  
  


“Think we should check the rest of the tower to be sure then, yeah?” Marlin said, straightening

  
  


“Well, I think we managed that on the lower level already. Is the top level clear?” Gilnur asked.

  
  


“Actually, we haven’t properly checked,” Marlin replied. “Let's get to it.”

Seth remained in the main room, unable to hide his fascination but the rest followed her up the stairs. She gestured for them to be quiet as they reached the top and she silently stepped forward, a little to the left at the top.

She came back a moment later and her telepathy entered their heads.

_ I hear a voice. Two doors up here, one to each side. Vug take the one I went too, I’ll head to the other with Gilnur. We’ll go through both and see what they lead too _

They nodded and moved onwards, Gilnur noticing that Kyne seemed a little perplexed at the sudden pause.

As he got to the top of the stairs, Gilnur saw the top level of the tower for the first time. The stairs opened into a wide space, nearly a hemisphere. No furniture or decorations apart from two more of the gargoyle statues which flanked the opening to the balcony.

Smouldering remains of two goblins and a giant rat, and scorch marks on the floor suggested that Vug hadn’t been able to vent his rage on these before one had forgotten, or maybe dropped, one of the lit fire bombs.

In the walls to each side, was a single wooden door. Vug lined up at one as Marlin and Gilnur headed to the other. Azuri nestled in behind Vug and Kyne stood in the centre of the room looking from one pair to the other.

Gilnur wondered if Marlin had included Kyne in her mental voice meld.

_ Three, two, one, NOW _

He kicked the door in front of him as Vug did the same at the other one, stepping aside to allow Marlin space to enter.

  
  


“Now, who the fuck are you meant to be?” The voice was guttural, very similar to how Vug sounded when speaking Common. 

Whoever was speaking didn’t have chance to say more as Marlin sent two psychic blades their way. Gilnur was on her heels and saw that both doors had opened into the same room, obviously a bedroom.  There was a chest of drawers on the wall to his side, next to a fancy gold rimmed mirror, standing full height near a rug. Beyond was a dresser then a large bed.  Standing by the bed, whirling a morning star was a bug bear, his shield turning towards the outthrust halberd of Vug.

Azuri’s voice rang out, comparing the new bugbear’s smell to Vug’s excrement. Though Gilnur would have found it insulting, the bug bear, a chief to judge by his tribal markings, had no idea who Vug was to compare it to and slipped inside Vug’s guard, taking advantage of Vug overextending his reach. 

The whirling spiked ball collided with Vug’s midriff with a heavy clang; despite the armour, Vug gasped suddenly and the ball then smacked with his chin and he collapsed to the floor.

Gilnur fired, yelling, looking more to attract attention at this point and the bugbear chief ignored the arrow whizzing past him with a sneer. The sneer turned into a pained scowl as one of Marlin’s blades sank into him; he ducked behind his shield against which the second impacted harmlessly.

Kyne leapt into the fray as Azuri knelt by Vug, her quarterstaff spinning rapidly and the chief could not bring his shield back in time to stop the blow smacking him in the side of the head. He snarled, steadying himself as Azuri cast a healing spell on Vug again.

Gilnur saw the opening and loosened off a quick shot that sunk into the chief’s armpit. Channelling power, again the brambles ensnared out, the hardy creature recoiling from the pain. It turned in anger and Marlin sent another psychic blade straight into its face.

It froze for one second then just fell backwards, the bed catching it’s limp body, the morning star clattering to the floor.

Vug was accepting the aid of Azuri this time as he painfully rose up again. He prayed to Kord and his hand glowed, his wounds closing somewhat.

  
  


“I need to rest,” he said wearily.

  
  


Gilnur clapped him on the shoulder as he went to reclaim the stray arrow.

Seth arrived at one of the doors, “I can’t wait to look around this place.” He paused, seeing Vug. “All okay?”

Vug just nodded and sat heavily on the bed, pushing the chief’s corpse to the floor.

  
  


“Hey Seth, as you’re here. Have a look at this for me?”

  
  


Marlin was crouching near the full-length mirror, looking curiously at the floor.  Seth went over, idly checking out the rest of the room.

  
  


“What do you have?”

  
  


“See here,” she pointed, “the rug is much more worn in this corner, right before the mirror. Something’s odd.”

  
  


Seth grunted, lost in thought. He stared at the mirror for a moment then reached out and with a simple movement, just vanished.

Marlin jolted back.

  
  


“What the …?”

  
  


Vug slowly raised his head.

  
  


“Does this mean no rest?”

  
  


“Hey,” Kyne called, “we should move the mirror to face a wall. Allow enough space for a Seth to appear but considering the large creatures we’ve already witnessed in this tower …”

  
  


Kyne left the sentence unfinished but everyone flashed to the dead owlbear, the gelatinous cube. 

  
  


“Right, good idea.” Marlin turned and began to pull the mirror and its stand away from it’s position against the outside wall. His plate armour clanking, Vug struggled to his feet.

There was no warning as Seth reappeared before the moved mirror.

  
  


“We gotta get in there. The child can’t hold it for long!”

  
  


So saying, he reached back to one corner of the frame and vanished again.

Marlin sighed. “Acorn in top right corner, second from top.” She reached to the point on the mirror clearly, taking hold off an acorn and also vanished.

  
  


“What in Kord’s name is all this?” Vug uttered a short prayer to Kord and a shimmer of light settled around his plate, as if a second layer of armour. His hairy paw reached out to the acorn and he disappeared from the room.

Azuri followed and Gilnur gestured for Kyne to follow, shaking his head.

  
  


“What are we doing?” He asked himself, reaching for the same, obviously well-used, acorn that triggered this magic.

  
  


For one split second, he felt a sense of rapid distance, of the room stretching out in all directions and shrinking into one point. The disorientation was gone almost before it started.

Gilnur found himself in a large room, shaped to resemble an eight pointed star. The mirror they had stepped from was in front of one of the points. Centred in the room was a square pool filled with crackling purple energy, flickers of actinic light flashing through the already brightly lit room

A cage to their left stood on a circular dais, while another across the pit was suspended in the air by a sturdy gibbet, both in line with corners of the pit, the cold stone design of both dais at odds with the smooth, red tile of the central area. 

Two magic circles reflected each other from the other two points of the light pit. The one to their right was empty, the arcane designs unsmudged on the floor. It’s partner across the pit however was obscured by a writhing mass of some blood-red liquid that had a vaguely humanoid aspect to it.

The dark eyes and what could be a head were locked towards the far side of the room where Gilnur was surprised to see a young boy, human with dirty blonde hair and face pale with strain. He was holding a hand towards whatever aberration was in the circle but his eyes were fixed towards them, the pleading apparent across the fifty or so feet that separated him from them.

Vug was already charging towards the aberration, halberd ready and Marlin was darting across towards the boy. 

“Vug wait, there’s a …” Before Seth could finish, his face under lit by a held globe of fire in his hand, the boy dropped his arm weakly.

A force barrier that had been restraining the aberration just ceased to be and it’s form began to slosh out from the magical barrier. Lunging at full extension, Vug pierced it with the point of his halberd, crying out to Kord and a blast of lightning snaked across the liquid form.

Whatever it was, and Gilnur was put into mind of some form of blood elemental without actually recognising it, still recoiled from the divine power he released.

  
  


“We just get the boy and go!” Marlin yelled as she skirted the suspended cage

  
  


The unnatural beings whirling form reformed around the wound but before it could react, Azuri’s voice rang out. She had moved forward to the edge of the pool. Gilnur didn’t recognise her words as he nocked his bow, Kyne hefting her staff beside him.

The thing reacted slowly and began to make an odd noise, quivering and rippling oddly. Gilnur paused as the odd thought occurred to him - was it laughing?

  
  


“Hey,” Azuri turned to them, “New spell, what do you think?”

  
  


Gilnur just nodded. Kyne moved over to the cage as Marlin reached the boy, reaching for him.

  
  


“Oh, yeah. If you hit it, it’ll probably break the spell.”

  
  


“Good note.” Gilnur eased the tension on the bowstring but took a few steps forward.

  
  


Marlin pulled the boy to his feet and began to escort him back.

  
  


Vug looked at Kyne approaching behind him and growled “Get out!” His next swipe at the creature was wide as she grabbed at his shoulder.

  
  


“That’s you as well,” she said firmly. The force of her conviction was enough to make him take a few steps towards the mirror.

As Marlin crossed around the room, pulling the boy along with her, Azuri skipped back to the mirror, proud at her new spell, pausing to cast another healing spell on the falling back Vug, blood still oozing from wounds sustained in the fights in the tower. She slowed just before she reached for the same acorn on the mirror, allowing Seth to vanish from sight first.

Gilnur fell back slowly as Marlin passed behind him, noticing Kyne had paused at the cage. But he kept his attention on the strangely fluid laughter from the elemental like being.

Behind him, he heard Azuri going “After you!”

  
  


“There’s someone in the cage!” Kyne called.

  
  


Gilnur heard Marlin sigh, then “Gilnur, take the kid!”

Gilnur sighed in turn then looked down at the wan face staring at him. He knew better than to try to smile.

  
  


“C’mon kid. Let’s get you to safety.”

  
  


He hustled the kid over to the mirror as Marlin sped towards the cage door. The steel bars were too narrow together for Gilnur to properly see who was in there, shadows from the arcane pit playing weirdly across the rigid construction but whomever was in there seemed to be on the larger size.

Gilnur paused as he reached the mirror to watch Marlin. She deftly released the lock, with a look of what appeared to be panic on her face.

“Wait, will the child come through with me if I do this?” He asked Azuri.

  
“Only one way to find out!”

  
  


Gilnur gave her a stern look then sighed again and holding onto the boys hand reached for the acorn. Again there was that peculiar sense of inside out then both he and the boy were in the room at the top of the tower.

  
  


“Get to the other side of the room and stay low!” He said firmly. Gilnur watched him head to hide the other side of the bed as he turned back to the mirror alongside Seth.

There was a moment of stillness then Azuri popped through.

“Ooh, it tingles.”

  
  


“Where are the others?”

  
  


“On their way. With the extra bugbear.”

  
  


“Wait?” Gilnur looked at her. “What extra bugbear?”

  
  


“The one in the cage.” She replied simply

  
  


Seth looked worried. “Vug is not going to be happy about that,” he said nervously.

  
  


It was a few seconds later when Marlin popped through. 

A few seconds after that, there was still no Kyne or Vug. Then a figure appeared. It was a bug bear but was not Vug. She immediately raised her hands as she saw Gilnur aiming his bow directly at her. Gilnur knew he would absolutely have fired the shot if he hadn’t just heard about the race of the prisoner. The bugbear stumbled to one side.

Marlin was taking position ready to move the mirror, her intent still to position facing a corner to minimise the available space.

Kyne appeared and quickly stepped towards the female bugbear. Vug finally appeared and in a rush charged up the bug bear, slamming her against the stone wall, his face contorted in fury.

  
  


“What is going on?”

  
  


“Captured.”

  
  


“When?”

  
  


“A week ago. I don’t know.”

  
  


Before Vug could say any more, Marlin interjected. “By who?”

  
  


The female bugbear did not take her eyes from Vug. In her broken Common, she replied. “Spiteful wizard.”

  
  


There was a huge sigh from Marlin. “I think we’ve been played for a pack of idiots. I think this wizard was a real shithead and our altercations with the bugbears were just an attempt to get her back.”

  
  


The female bugbear nodded as best she could in Vugs grip.

“Thanks for release. Want to return to husband, family.” She looked at Vug and spoke in what was presumably Goblin to say something to him, Gilnur guessed it to be the same request but in her own language.

“I think not!” Vug said fiercely, his hand axe raising to her throat.

Kyne leapt for his arm even as Marlin opened her mouth to try to persuade him to hold. Both were too late but the handaxe stopped right at her neck. A thin trail of blood began to run down from where the axe had just nicked the skin.

There was a pause then he stepped back, spitting on the floor before her and stepping away. 

Kyne stepped up to her, her face sorrowful.

“I’m afraid that when we arrived, we got into a fight with a pack of bugbears and goblins. Judging from your tribal marks, I suspect that this may have been your husband attempting to rescue you.”

  
  


The bugbears face, stolid all through the encounter with Vug dropped, misery apparent for all to see.

  
  


“Chief?”

  
  


Kyne merely pointed to the other side of the room. The bugbear stared at her then stepped around and saw the body of the chief slumped on the floor. She roared in sadness and pain. The boy huddled further into the space between furniture he had wedged himself and the room was silent for a long moment.

With no further word, the bugbear stepped forward, took a hold on what had used to be her life mate and began to drag his remains to the door.

No-one stopped her.

As the sounds of the body thunked down the stairs, Gilnur stepped out from the bedroom and took up a position in the open balcony area. It was a few moments later when he heard the bugbear drag her morbid prize out. He watched her go, lost in his own thoughts. 

He remained there in silence for some time. Vug was the first one to come out. He stormed over to each of the goblin bodies and unceremoniously dumped the bodies over the balustrade then headed downstairs. Gilnur could just see him a few minutes later throwing the rest of the bodies of the dead bugbears into a pile outside.

Kyne approached Gilnur.

  
  


“Vug is suggesting that we have a long rest here then talk to the child. They don’t trust him.”

  
  


“We did find him beyond a magic portal restraining some form of blood liquid thing, and are in a tower where the wizard appears to be capturing creatures. That leads to a certain distrust. 

“Considering we were sent here by a supposed druid, it raises questions about the whole thing we are doing in the place. And based on how Vug reacted, I presume that we’ll have more bugbears back here before too long. Today has not been a good day, cleric.”

  
  


She looked at him for a moment then sighed. Whether or not she was going to say something more, Gilnur couldn't tell and she stepped away. Gilnur returned to looking northwards, the trail that the bugbear left visible in the grass waving in a suddenly brisk wind, the sky darkening as twilight fell.


	8. Gilnur: New Faces, Old Thoughts

The clear out of the tower took a little time.

Once the bodies of the bugbears were removed, Gilnur and Vug moved them from the tower and downwind as best they could - if the female bugbear came back, the rest of those from her tribe would be able to collect the bodies. They then spent a little time working their way back up the tower.

As Vug barricaded the door and set his hunting trap up behind, Gilnur checked the store room. Largely full of dry supplies, he gnawed on some cured bacon but found nothing marked as Serpent’s Breath. Kyne descended to say that Marlin had found some books on the first floor that suggested alchemy.

“She’d also like you to assist in the room where the gelatinous cube was found. Says you have some measure of resistance to acid?” She paused and Gilnur just nodded. “Anything down here?” 

  
  


“We’ll be able to restock our rations before we leave but nothing else really.” He left her and Vug to check the kitchen area on the other side, and made his way up the stairs.

Seth was sitting at the desk, a realm of paperwork before him. Gilnur left him too it and walked passed the body of the owlbear. They couldn’t think of a way to remove the great beast without dismembering it and after the encounter with the bugbears, then wherever the area beyond the mirror was, the thought of a decent night's sleep not in the swamplands was much more tempting.

He entered the small room of the first level on the far side and paused. Marlin was inside, looking helplessly at the mess. It had once been some form of alchemist’s work area, not the Gilnur had any real knowledge of alchemy but now was largely evaporating globs of slightly acidic residue from the cube, mixed with the acrid tang of various chemicals and potions from the numerous smashed vials, broken in the fray.

  
  


“Got anything?” He rumbled.

  
  


“In here? Not really. There are some vials in that corner that look a little more chunky than the norm, as if for carrying something volatile.”

“Like this Serpent's Breath we seek?”

  
  


“Right. Empty, sadly. There’s a crate under here that may be promising but it’s covered in the remains of that cube.”

  
  


Gilnur knelt next to her and reached under a desk. He felt the gloopy residue on his hands but was able to pull the crate out and wipe his hands before any of the still evaporating acid could really get into his scales.

  
  


“Okay, so we have two, wait three intact containers.” He pulled out a stoppered flask with a red liquid sloshing inside. “Well, that looks like a healing potion. Maybe a greater.” Marlin took it and held it up to the light as Gilnur reached for another flask. The liquid inside was metallic and had left a residue. He unstoppered it and sniffed at the contents, dipped a single claw in and dabbed it on his tongue.

“Some form of resistance potion, I think. Not certain what type.”

  
  


“Okay, could be useful. And you said a third?”

  
  


“Yeah.” Gilnur pulled out a glass jar, a few inches across. Carefully releasing the lid, a faint smell of aloe permeated the area. “I think this is a jar of Keoghtom’s Ointment. Full as well. Not only does magical healing but helps with ailments like poison and disease.”

  
  


“Considering the state of Vug currently, does he need it?”

  
  


“Maybe.” Gilnur said nothing about his own state, trusting that his natural healing would kick in if he could just get some sleep. “There has been some healing magic cast on him so give that time to finish. We’ll see how he is after he has had a chance to rest and sleep.”

  
  


“Same with all of us then.” Marlin replied and Gilnur nodded again.

  
  


“Oh, did find this in the room out there.” She reached in a pouch and pulled out a book. Gilnur took it and tested the weight, far less than he expected from the size. Opening up, he saw why. It was actually a box, well painted and crafted to resemble a book of knowledge. Inside was a tightly rolled scroll of parchment with a scrap of paper wrapped around it.

On the paper was written the words “Tim - in case of emergency. Read this.”

  
  


“Tim?”

  
  


“Presumably the boy? Check in the morning I guess”

  
  


They moved up to the top level. The boy was already asleep and Azuri was setting up a camp area in the rest of the room. Marlin and Gilnur checked the room quickly. Under the bed was a second foldaway bed, which looked like it had regular use, and largely personal effects on the shelves and drawers in the area.

The party arranged a watch rotation and with the sun now low to the horizon took a rest.

Taking the first watch, Gilnur found himself flicking through some of the books that night, largely unable to concentrate fully and flicking through a number of tomes on assorted chemical properties without really taking any of it in or wondering through the tower looking idly at the contents of shelves, his thoughts racing back through the last few days.

He had spent many months wandering freely and it had been a little odd these last few weeks to suddenly have urgency again; a sense of a time ticking away. He wondered if Kyne would be able to get the potions of water breathing made up here - it seemed a more suitable place than in the humid swamp ponds. That made him think of Barrak and Bhumb still out in the wilds. There wasn’t enough water in the area for Bhumb to be able to get up here without suffocating and they were probably going to have use of him again.

Besides, Barrak had an affinity for nature so was probably fine.

Seth spent almost all of the watch perusing through the books and parchments that presumably were the wizards who had been resident. With nothing else to do for him, they had laid the body out in the lowest level. Hopefully the boy in the morning would be able to locate a nearby settlement that they could inter the body. And take the boy himself.

Though he had been restraining the blood creature largely by his mind, so there was power to him.

Once the sun had long gone below the horizon, Gilnur almost dragged Seth up to the bedrolls set up in the top room, waking a very reluctant Vug and a less reluctant Kyne for their turn at watch. Stiffy, Gilnur removed the ork plate and wrapped himself in a bedroll.

The sky outside was lightening when he awoke and he struggled into the plate again, unable to do it quietly, rousing the others. He checked in on Marlin, keeping an eye out from the balcony with her shortbow close to hand and took her place, his own longbow ready, absently chewing on more of the dried bacon and scanning the horizon as best he could.

He heard conversation from the room where they had all slept; it sounded like the boy had awoken and the party were now questioning him. Gilnur kept his attention outside. He still expected the bugbear they had released to return with a far greater number of her tribe, seeking retribution for her kidnapping and the subsequent loss of warriors, including her husband and the chief of the tribe. They also had to return through the mirror and deal with the blood creature, if it was still in there. Perhaps there was some of the Serpents Breath in there.

He looked around as he heard movement; it was Kyne stepping out of the room.

  
  


“Tim, the boy, is awake. Marlin mentioned that you have a scroll for him?”

  
  


Gilnur was confused a moment then remembered the false book that Marlin had handed him yesterday. “Oh, right.”

He strode back into the room, Kyne following. The boy, Tim, didn’t flinch at all as he saw Gilnur’s draconian features. Gilnur handed him the scroll. Tim took the scroll and read through the letter.

  
  


“Oh, okay. Um, the Master needs me to, um …” His voice tailed off as he read the note then unfurled the scroll. “Um, this may take me a bit of time, um. Sorry.”

  
  


“That’s fine, Tim.” Kyne smiled at him

  
  


“In the meantime,” Vug interjected loudly, “Is there any reason we haven’t gone through the mirror to defeat that hideous creature?”

Everyone looked at each other.

  
  


“Tim,” Kyne said then repeated herself louder. The boy, his lips moving silently as he read through the scroll, started and looked up at her.

  
  


“Um, yes?”

“We are going to go through the mirror to defeat the creature you summoned. Is there any reason we shouldn’t?”

  
  


“Ohh, yes that seems a good idea.” His attention wavered and he went back to the scroll.

  
  


“Okay, let's get to it,” Vug said as he turned and strode to the mirror, Marlin in his wake. Gilnur looked to Azuri and Seth

“Wait here with the boy. With Tim. We should be back soon.”

  
  


They both nodded and Azuri gave him a thumbs up. Gilnur turned to see Vug’s form vanishing as he touched the trigger acorn on the frame of the mirror. Marlin rolled her shoulders and followed him.

“Ready?” He asked Kyne

  
  


“Yes.” she replied simply. Gilnur pulled an arrow out of the quiver and nocked it. Holding it in place with one hand, he reached for the acorn with the other.

There was the same gut-wrenching instant then he was back in the star shaped room beyond the mirror. Marlin was creeping to the left around a desk and towards the cage where they had found the bugbear and Gilnur took a step to the right, nearer to the southern point of the star where a couple of large crates took open, straw spilling out.

The room was largely as they had left it, the large space still with it’s individual pieces; the empty gibbet cage untouched; the desk on the far side of the room still set up as if someone had just been working.

The middle of the room still gave off a purple hued bright light as the pool of arcane energy continued to waft. In place about it was the blood creature. It stood nearly ten feet tall, a good head over the slowly advancing Vug and looked like a vaguely humanoid shape, if that shape could be made from sloshing blood. The legs tended to merge together and the pseudo arms were waving in the wash of light. What may have been a head turned to regard them, two pools of brighter crimson visible in an otherwise featureless face, tides of blood rippling through the form. Gilnur had seen drawings of water elementals and this reminded him of one of those, if one could be made from blood.

Vug was muttering and a shimmer of divine power sparked around his armour. The blood elemental cocked it’s head, the arms playing in the arcane well slowing. With a cry, Vug suddenly stabbed forward.

The elemental shifted and the halberd strike went wide. Marlin took advantage of the movement and landed a hit with one of her psychic blades. It merely vanished without even a ripple. She hurriedly reached for her shortbow.

Vug arrested the thrust and dropped the weapon low as he brought it back; the hooked beak of the blade caught the elemental and there was a flash of radiant energy, causing ripples in the creature. It reformed faster than he expected but recoiled as Marlin’s first arrow hit it’s torso, where it then began to sink to the floor. The creature swept forward through Vug, attempting to engulf him but the bugbear reacted swiftly and leapt to one side.

As Vug sidestepped, and the elemental began to advance, Gilnur and Kyne were finally able to get clear shots past the glow of the well. Both paused as it dimmed and there was a pulse of arcane power from the summoning circle.

Gilnur traded a look with Kyne sure that he could see a half orc figure in the far circle. But the blood elemental was advancing on the mirror and Kyne by it so he fired the held arrow. The arrow plunged into the being. He used his will and the arrow was engulfed by a sudden growth of the spiked brambles. Gilnur could see the poison mixing with the blood around it and there was what could only be described as a sickly pulse through it

It lunged at Kyne and she gestured quickly, a flare of divine light arcing from her hand. The crimson pools in the elemental shrank as the light affected it and the cleric ducked away from the blow, taking up station behind Gilnur. In her wake, a shower of white-gold sparkles alighted on its form, the light spilling through it.

Recovering from his dodge, Vug swung the halberd around at the now brightly glowing being, carving through its liquid form. HIs cry merged oddly as another voice chanted and a wreath of divine flame descended on the elemental, the blood hissing. 

Gilnur’s attention was distracted as a set of glowing, translucent scales manifested in the air by the elemental and swung into it, blood splattering to the floor. His gaze whipped past the distant form of Marlin lining up another shot from her spot beyond the cage to the far side of the room.

It had been a half-orc he had seen; the muscular figure striding around with it’s attention fixed on the blood elemental. Embossed on his shield was the match to the scales in the air; which Gilnur recognised as the scales of the Lawbearer. He had no idea where this cleric had come from but they appeared to be on the same side right at this moment.

Besieged by arcane and divine powers on all sides, the blood elemental stopped it’s attack and instead it’s form washed towards a drain set in the floor.

“Oh no you don’t!” Vug roared, hefting his halberd. He brought it in against the creature midriff, spinning a figure-eight pattern that somehow made the thing recoil, it’s movement arrested.

The half-orc was already chanting. He saw the arrow from Marlin cut through the elemental and as his chanting finished, his gesture included her, Vug and Gilnur.

Gilnur felt some measure of divine flavour; a hint of a shimmer on his next arrow, held to his snout and fired on target. The half-orc had approached too close for him to use his own power to create an explosion of force within the blood being; he swiftly nocked another arrow and released it, the arrow directly following the first.

The blood elemental writhed as the arrows flew into its form. Gilnur moved towards the centre of the room, a surge of energy flooding him and a third arrow hit the creature the same time as Kyne created a spear of light; releasing it towards the blood elemental with a shout. Radiant light exploded from the spear as it hit and there was a pop followed by a loud splash as the blood of the elemental just cascaded to the floor wetly.

Before they had time to catch their breath, there was a cry from Marlin. From his view point, she was now behind the cage. Gilnur couldn’t see what she had encountered but he heard what she was crying out.

  
  


“Mimic! Mimic!”

  
  


She rolled out from the cage, shortbow dropping to the floor as psychic blades appeared in her hands, flying back to hit a target still out of sight as Gilnur ran back towards the mirror. There was a rasping hiss as her blades found their mark.

The half-orc carried on his stride, now moving past the cage, the iridescent scales drifting through the air behind him. He unclasped a spear from it’s mount on his back and stabbed past Marlin as she rolled to her feet behind him. 

Gilnur moved past Kyne, gesturing to her spear to follow the scales, and caught sight of Marlin’s attempted assailant. There had been a chest in the western point; a chest that now had rows of sharp teeth and a purple pseudopod retracting back into a mouth made from the hinged lid. It hopped forward and the teeth snapped towards the half-orc who smartly evaded the strike.

Still feeling divine energy, Gilnur paused to aim. The arrow flew true and lodged into the upper part of the chest; his subsequent manipulation of the arcane weave was familiar and the brambles again snaked across the wooden like skin of the mimic. 

As it opened its mouth, hissing loudly, Vug’s halberd came smashing down onto it, knocking it’s jaws together with a sharp crack. The bugbear held his halberd down, attempting to pin the mimic that writhed under the blade, it’s chest form blurring as it began to shift to another form.. Using the half-orc as cover, two more of Marlin’s psychic blades whistled through the air and thudded into the creature which jolted once, twice, then collapsed into a puddle of grey ichor and goo, shapeless on the floor.

  
  


Catching his breath, the half orc looked at them all.

  
  


“Just where in Vasselheim am I?”

  
  


“You’re not in Vasselheim,” Marlin said, walking past him, her attention on the liquefied remains of the mimic.

  
  


The half-orc, who had about to carry on speaking, paused and looked a little deflated.“Wait, what?”

  
  


Gilnur shrugged, stepping carefully past the steaming puddle of blood. “Welcome to Tal’dorei.”

  
  


“Presuming that’s where we still are,” Vug rumbled.

  
  


“There are drains here,” Marlin pointed out. “This isn’t some demi-plane.”

  
  


Gilnur pointed up. The ceiling was compacted dirt, unnaturally smooth. “And the ceiling would suggest that we are under the tower.”

  
  


The newcomer looked at him. “What tower? Tal’dorei?” 

  
  


Gilnur looked at him. “We are most likely under a wizards tower in the northern end of the K’Tawl Swamp. On Tal’dorei’s eastern shoreline.”

  
  


The half-orc regarded him a moment as his face fell, then he held a symbol around his neck, matching the scales on his shield. 

“I recognise the scales of the Lawbearer and presume you are some sort of guard? Kyne here is a cleric of the Dawnfather whilst our hirsute friend Vug over there is a paladin of the Stormlord. Also a bugbear but more a paladin of Kord. Marlin is the lady near you and I am Gilnur.”

  
  


The half-orc nodded, his face still hungdog. “I am Mogra, a Bastion of Vasselheim.”

  
  


“You are a long way from home, Mogra. Why have you come so far?”

  
  


“In truth, I do not know. I was in the midst of apprehending a wizard in the streets of Vasselheim; then I am here.”

  
  


“Well, the story of why we are here is something we need to sit and explain to you. We have other members of our group waiting on us so if you let us finish our search here, we can bring you up to speed.”

  
  


Mogra nodded, a little numbly and took a seat on the step that round around the central pool, eying it distrustfully. Gilnur saw his arrows in the pool of blood and carefully reached in for them, wiping down the fletchings with a cloth he found on the nearby desk. Looking around the room, he could see Marlin was in a point of the room where two laden bookshelves heaved with a variety of tomes. Kyne was finishing checking the apparently empty crates and was moving over to another pair in another point; Vug in tow.

Fitting the last retrieved arrow back into his quiver, Gilnur glanced over the nearby desk. From the handwriting, he presumed this was where Tim worked and nothing on the table seemed of any real importance.

  
  


“What are you looking for?” Mogra asked, his voice a little brittle.

  
  


“Looking for a component for a spell to turn a lady back human from her current aquatic state.”

  
  


“Arcane magic is the worse.”

  
  


Despite himself, Gilnur grinned. With nothing of interest on this desk, he crossed the room to the desk on the far side. Definitely belonged to the old wizard. Marlin came back from the bookshelves, carrying some texts that appeared to be on bugbears, on bullywugs and on sahuagin.

  
  


“Got some light reading for someone. Anything we need here?” She asked Gilnur.

  
  


“Various notes on the proper way to dissect creatures and a list of things to check for. Nothing seems overtly evil.”

  
  


“So he is someone that would pin butterflies to boards but not remove legs from ants?”

  
  


Gilnur looked at her oddly. “You could say that.”

  
  


“I’m not certain about that,” Intoned Vug as he moved over to join them. “There are a number of body parts in those crates. They are not all the same creature, or creatures and some are joined. Together.”

  
  


“Getting a vibe?” Marlin asked.

  
  


“My divine sense is not tingling. Kyne is going to wander around the space looking for magic once she finishes her ritual. But those boxes aren’t pleasant. Who’s this?”

Mogra repeated his tale. As a Bastion, one of the townguard of the ancient city of Vasselheim, it was his duty to uphold the law and order on the streets, including unauthorised use of arcane powers within the city walls; his last action was an attempt to restraint a arcane magic user on those hallowed streets of civilisations most ancient city.

  
  


Gilnur stared at him. “We have a wizard and a bard within the party, and both mine and Marlin’s own powers are arcane in nature. Is this going to be a problem?”

  
  


Mogra met his gaze. “I’m a long way from home. And the rules of Vasselheim don’t apply elsewhere in Exandria. Whether or not I think they should, I understand that I can not be beholden to the laws and ordinance that I have sworn to uphold, when I am not in the place where they apply.”

  
  


Gilnur nodded. “Good enough. Can’t guarantee that we can assist you but you are welcome to join with us. Our goal beyond saving our corrupted charge would be to get her to Drynna; which would certainly be a step in the right direction for getting you home.”

  
  


“That seems fair.”

  
  


Their attention was caught by Kyne raising smoothly and beginning to slowly walk the room. She made a circuit of the room then finished by them, waiting on her.

  
  


“The well obviously is magical. Transmutation in nature. And there was a hint of abjuration from the magic circle you arrived in, Mogra. I had been expecting conjuration honestly. But the arcane power has all but faded. I do not know how you came to be called here at this time.”

  
  


Mogra nodded his understanding - there would be no quick return for him here..

  
  


“Right,” Marlin said, “the others are going to be waiting and we should get back to them.”

  
  


“No complaints here,” said Vug, glad to be moving and he briskly stepped to the mirror, and disappeared from view.

  
  


Marlin followed in his wake. Mogra stopped Gilnur, a questioning look on his face.

  
  


“The only way in or out seems to be magical in nature. You merely need to touch a particular part on this frame and you will be transported to the tower above us.”

  
  


Kyne paused, making sure Mogra’s eyes were on her then she pressed her fingers to the acorn and vanished from sight. Mogra approached a little hesitantly.

“He-” He began to say something then blinked from view. Gilnur took one last look around then stepped up himself.

Physicality shifted and he stepped into the tower bedroom. 

  
  


“-re?” Mogra finished belatedly in front of him.

  
  


Kyne was stepping out of the room and only Seth was already in; a little bowled under from the pile of books Marlin had apparently dumped in his grasp. He saw Gilnur’s questioning look.

  
  


“Ah, downstairs. The boy, Tim, said he needed the body.”

  
  


“Right.” Gilnur nodded. “This way, Mogra. That’s Seth, by the way, our wizard.”

  
  


“Um, hi. What am I meant to do with these books?”

  
  


Gilnur turned in the doorway. “I think Marlin wanted you to read them.”

  
  


Gilnur and Mogra walked down the steps, their weapons and armour clanking. Gilnur could hear voices and they continued to the ground level.

  
  


Azuri and Tim were at the bottom and so was another figure. He was patting Tim on the shoulder.

  
  


“Thank you my boy. Very glad I left you that scroll, hmm? Think this counted as an emergency. Goodness there’s more of you.”

  
  


The figure adjusted a pair of pince-nez glasses as he regarded them. Despite Vugs hulking form and the distinctly non-humanoid aspects of both Gilnur and Mogra the newcomer did not seem worried by them; instead he seemed to be cataloguing them.

  
  


“Old Minas?” Gilnur asked as he reached the bottom step.

  
  


“Please, please call me Zac. And you’ve met Tim. But I don’t think I have met any of you. Though I think, hmm, I think I need to thank you all. That could have been a bit of a rum deal without you all, yes?”

“The bugbears had killed you, yes.” Replied Marlin.

  
  


“Very inconvenient that would have been.” Zac replied. “Good think we worked this out, eh boy?”

  
  


Tim nodded. “Yeah, I remembered the scroll and your note.”

  
  


Gilnur, who distinctly remembered that they had been the ones to inform Tim of the scroll, narrowed his eyes a little; he wasn’t the only one but no-one spoke up.

  
  


Zac was ruffling the boys' unruly mop of hair. “Good lad. Well done. I wonder why they attacked us?”

  
  


Marlin raised an eyebrow. “How about the bugbear you captured last week?”

  
  


Zac looked over to her. “Oh, yes. That would do it. Tim, make a note. No more live captures. Of the humanoid races at least. My manners, really, can I offer you all tea?”

  
  


Vug stepped up to Zac; his form two foot or more over the recently revived wizard whose blood still caked the back of the slightly ratty robe he wore.

“Why did you have a bugbear in a cage?”

  
  


“To study it of course. I know little of the race of bugbears and we had a chance to investigate those interesting creatures.”

  
  


“Bugbears are not interesting. The only interesting bugbear is a dead bugbear.”

  
  


“Hmm, that’s an interesting view coming from one who is a bugbear. Would you take tea and allow me to ask some questions.”

  
  


“No.” Vug stalked to the door and stepped outside.

“Shame. Boy, why are you still standing there!. Get the tea boiling. One less cup, apparently if the bugbear is not for joining us.”

  
  


Gilnur felt Mogra’s questioning eyes and looked over, shrugging. He followed the ambling Zac into the kitchen space.

  
  


“Ahh, but what brings you all to my tower?” Zac spun and regarding them again. “Did Tim get a message to you?”

  
  


“No. We have been sent to collect something for you for a ritual that needs casting.”

  
  


“Well, I do have a lot of components. Hmm, could you care to be more specific?”

  
  


“We have been sent to collect an item called Serpent’s Breath from you?”

  
  


“Ahh, now that’s a thing I have. Hmm, not many preparations require that. What ritual are you looking to undertake.”

  
  


Gilnur looked at the others who just stared back at him.

  
  


“Well, we don’t actually have the details. I can tell you the rest of the components.” He was suddenly reluctant to explain about their failure to protect Astrid or to mention Mimi. If he could divulge as little as possible and see if this wizard could support anything of what Mimi said. The group after all had not had anyone to check her word against.

He listed off the griffon feathers and dinosaur bones then paused as he saw a flicker of recognition in Zac’s face.

“Hmm, well. That is a particular set of components. Tell me, do you also need a blackened pearl?”

  
  


“Yes,” said Azuri excitedly.

  
  


“In fact, hmm let me check. Yes, I can only think of one ritual that would need all of these things. Is this something to do with the old temple towards the coast? Is it Mimi who has sent you?”

  
  


Gilnur had barely sent yes when he saw a look of wistful memory settle on Zac’s face.

  
  


“Zac? What do you know of this ritual.”

  
  


“Hmm? Oh yes. The ritual. I don’t know all that much - yes Tim, two sugars please - as it was Mimi who told me of it. From what I know, there is some dark thing sealed away in that old place. Tell me, has someone been changed?”

  
  


“Yes,” Azuri said again.

  
  


“Then it sounds like the same thing. I may have it written somewhere but honestly I could not say where. Tim hasn’t finished cataloguing the journals yet. Have you?”

  
  


“No master.”

  
  


“Not that I have much on it anyway. The transformation is the first step to apparently release whatever darkness is within the temple.

  
  


“And that doesn’t worry you?” Mogra asked

  
  


“My dear half-orc, there are so many tales of darkness in this land.” He looked like he was about to wave this off when a thought occurred to him. “Though Mimi is worried enough to send you to me. Tell me what did you need?”

  
  


Hiding the sigh well, Marlin replied. “Serpent's Breath.”

  
  


“Ah yes, you did say.” He clicked his fingers at Tim. “Go get some of the vials. Carefully mind!” He continued as Tim scurried out. “It’s volatile stuff of course. Only lasts a few days before it just evaporates into the air. I am not too humble to say that I have been able to extend that. Darkened glass to minimise the sun's effect and have to travel carefully of course.”

  
  


Gilnur cleared his throat. “Mimi mentioned all this. You would happily give this to us?”

  
  


“Of course. For the lovely Mimi. Besides, what would I do with it otherwise? It would just sit on a shelf and expire. I had some thoughts for increasing the dilution on the next batch so this is an opportunity to refine the process.” He paused. “Also, you did help save my life and the life of my ward, so it’s a chance, hmm, to say thank you.”

Before anyone could answer, Tim dashed back into the room.

  
  


“Goodness, boy. What’s the rush? You know you shouldn’t dash about while carrying that stuff. Well, where is it?”

  
  


“The alchemy workshop is ruined, master. Many of the vials are smashed and the whole space is messed up.”

  
  


“Incident with a bugbear and a gelatinous cube.” Marlin said brightly.

  
  


“Oh my. That is unfortunate.”

  
  


“Are you able to get any more of the Serpent’s Breath?” Gilnur asked, concerned.

  
  


“Oh that? Sure, I’ll get my suppliers to bring some. I have contact with some roving orcs in these parts - marvellous hunters. I’m sure you’d get along wonderfully with them. Filthy creatures of course but good at what they do.” Gilnur could see Mogra bite his tongue and he quickly spoke up.

  
  


“How about if we were to get the Serpent’s Breath for you? Do you know where they get it from?”

  
  


“The Serpent's Breath. Oh I make that, hmm. All I need is some venom glands from a giant coral snake.”

  
  


Gilnur hadn’t heard of that species of snake; though he could see that Marlin blanched a little.

  
  


“And where would we find a giant coral snake?”

  
  


“Hmm? Well, that’s what I would need the orcs for. They bring me parts I need and I make up things for them. See they have this big event where they look to prove themselves mighty fighters. Fascinating time - though sadly this year, I’ll have to be putting the tower in order after being dead. Here, let me draw you a map.”

Tim was already pulling parchment and an ink quill from a drawer; Gilnur had the impression that he was used to his master having sudden thoughts and needing to write them down.

  
  


Gilnur noticed Kyne standing stock still by the door and another thought occurred to him.

  
  


“Zac? If you don’t have the Serpent’s Breath, would you have potions of water breathing that you could provide instead?”

  
  


Zac looked up from the map he was sketching out. “Water breathing? Hmm. I believe I would be able to prepare some of that if needed. But if you need to go underwater for something, I'm surprised that you didn’t ask Mimi for that. Part of her druid knowledge includes the magic to do that. It’s one that I keep forgetting to learn,” He paused for a moment, tapping the point of the quill against his lips then licked his lips and seemed to remember he was in the middle of a map and went back to it, the dark ink still smudging his face.

Gilnur watched him for a moment, partly relieved that the wizard had confirmed that Mimi was a druid and not something else lurking in the swamps, but also a little concerned that she hadn’t mentioned this spell before. Gilnur knew that Kyne had been able to collect nearly enough of the ingredients needed for the water breathing potion but he wondered if something magical would be able to last longer.

Zac finished up his drawing.

“Right, you just need to head along the ridgeline for this distance.” He pointed at the map showing both the location of this tower and an area he had marked with a stylistic X “...and you should come across it. Very exciting place to visit. Little jealous I must say.”

His head snapped up. “Oh but we must reward you for your assistance. As we don’t have the potions you seek, hmm, what to do? Ah, boy, go collect the magic items we put to one side back in the winter tidy..”

Tim nodded and left the room again.

Zac called out after him. ”And bring your old spellbook! Honestly, I saw the first draft of his spellbook. Very sloppy. Functional of course but the boy needs to take a little pride in his work, hmm.” He absently took a sip of tea and licked his lips again, noticing an odd taste.

Before he could do more, Kyne stepped forward, muttering a quick incantation.

For all that Zac appeared to be a little unaware of things, he gestured surprisingly quickly in Kyne direction.

  
  


“Ah, ahh. No sudden spells, please.”

  
  


“It was a zone of truth spell.”

  
  


“Which you didn’t ask permission for. A little rude, hmm.”

  
  


“Fine. Without the zone then. We’ve seen your study area through the mirror. What is your intent with the chimera's you are constructing?”

  
  


“The chimera's Oh, the crates of parts. The natural world is a fascinating place, hmm. So much variation and variety, so many forms. So much information to learn.”

  
  


“And what do you do with them?”

  
  


“Oh well, I study, I learn and I keep notes for prosperity. There is so much to glean from all the creatures we share this realm with.”

“And what do you plan to do with them once you have studied them?” She was staring at him intently, and Gilnur began to get the impression that if the wizard said something amiss, she was going to make things hard for him. Mogra had picked up on the tension and was a little more ready on his feet.

Zac for his part seemed more put out by her lack of manners regarding her attempted spell but was otherwise unperturbed.

  
  


“Well, I dispose of them. I have no need for them afterwards. It’s generally why I get the parts post life. Easier to study, hmm.”

  
  


Kyne regarded him hard for a moment then turned and spun, stalking out of the door.

  
  


Time staggered in backwards, obviously struggling under a heap of items which he dumped on the table.

  
  


“Careful boy,” Zac side absently, finally wiping the ink from his lip and looking at his tea distrustfully. “Well, anything here that takes your fancy, do help yourself.”

  
  


The largest item was a shield. Though he had kept the turtle shell shield from the temple, Gilnur gestured to Mogra who suddenly expressed an interest. He picked it up, regarding the large emblazoned eye, the pupil formed by the shield boss, and looked curiously at Zac.

“Hmm, Oh that’s a nice piece. Far too heavy for me though. I was pondering if I could duplicate the enchantment but that’s not really my speciality and, honestly, I don’t think we’ll make the time.”

  
  


“It’s enchanted?” Mogra asked.

  
  


“Oh yes. It increases your visual acuity and I think also has some measure of effect on your ability to react in a crisis situation.”

  
  


“It’s a Sentinel Shield?” Mogra responded.

  
  


“Oh, you’ve heard of them. Hmm, yes, that feels like an appropriate name.”

  
  


Mogra looked at Marlin and Gilnur. “All yours,” Gilnur replied. “No one else in the party has much need for a shield.” Mogra nodded appreciatively. Gilnur noted that the Bastion’s seeming distaste of arcane magic didn’t seem to apply when it benefited him and Gilnur felt a little less concerned about their new party member.

  
  


Marlin wasn’t looking at them; instead she had picked up a shortbow. Gilnur could see that it was finely carved and the bowstring looked to be in perfect condition.

  
  


“Hmm, that bow seems to be enchanted to place a little touch of seeking magic on the arrow and to increase its velocity ever so slightly.”

  
  


“If it’s a magic bow, I’m interested,” Marlin replied. She looked over at Gilnur,”Unless…?”

  
  


He waved her away. “I prefer a longbow. Help yourself.” 

  
  


She nodded, returning to her inspection of the bow. Zac was frowning at the table.

  
  


“Is that all we had boy? We certainly had more than that.”

  
  


Tim looked a little unsure of himself. “Everything else is missing, master. The potions, and the rest.” Gilnur suddenly remembered the potions and the ointment that he and Marlin had picked up from the ruins of the alchemy workshop and remained quiet.

There was a clatter at the door and Vug stepped in. What are we waiting for? Do we know where we are going yet?”

  
  


“Yes, we were just getting the map. Thank you for the items, Zac, and the directions. We’ll bring the part of the coral snake back to you and you’ll be able to make up Serpent's Breath?”

  
  


Zac peered at Tim who intuited the question. “We have more of the special vials, yes.”

  
  


Zac looked back at Gilnur. “Then yes, I can make it up from the giant coral snake. Not the small species - you’d need to collect loads of those, hmm. And thank you for your assistance.”

  
  


There was a flurry of thank yous and goodbyes and the party found themselves in front of the tower.

  
  


“So we know where we are going?” Vug asked again.

  
  


Gilnur showed the map. “Yes, we just head that away. When we find the crowd, we’ve arrived. They can tell us where to then track down the correct giant snake.”

  
  


“Let's head off then.” Vug didn’t wait but immediately headed away from the tower.

  
  


Gilnur paused - if they had just been able to take out that bullywug priest in the temple earlier then they possibly could already be headed northwards to Drynna and the completion of their booked escort. Instead they were now hunting a giant snake to get its ‘breath’ extracted to form a component for a ritual that they still didn’t know any details about.

He sighed - two weeks ago he had been in Stilben dealing with a plan involving the Clasp and cursed wine, and somehow things had just got more complicated since. He hoped that had all been resolved as he really fancied sitting down in a tavern right about now.

  
  


“Hey, you coming?” Mogra called and Gilnur shook his head and followed the rest on the next leg of the journey.


	9. The Gathering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the wizard saved, the party now need to head to the Gathering to find the location of the next part they seek.
> 
> With new members of the party, will they be able to obtain the information?

Or he was about to when the door opened behind him and Zac stuck his head out.

“Ah, you’re still here. Excellent. I’ve just sent you to the Gathering, right?”

  
  


Gilnur peered at him. “You’ve given us a map to find someone who can point us in the direction of the giant coral snakes.”

  
  


“I did yes. But I got to thinking what your skills are with negotiations with orcs, bugbears and the like.”

  
  


“Discussions with them tend to be sharp and to the point.” 

  
  


“Well, it occurred to me that I may know of someone in Kraghammer who could be of assistance. Last I knew him, he was working on a thesis for successful negotiations with orcs. Do you think that would be of assistance?”

  
  


“I’m not going to say no to having someone else join us. Is Kraghammer nearby?”

  
  


“Oh gracious no! It’s a good way across Tal'Dorei. But I have teleportation circles so it would be just a step for me to then go and ask if he could help? Wait here and I’ll check.” Zac ducked back inside, leaving the door to his tower wide open.

Gilnur sighed and looked down the already strung out group. 

Explaining this sudden turn of events took a bit of time. Seth, Azuri and Marlin agreed and headed back into the tower to find somewhere to sit as they waited. Vug grumbled but was happy to accept aid that reduced the need for him to speak. He chose to wait outside.

Kyne frowned.

  
  


“I need to be moving on. Vug has a strong connection to his god and I believe he can assist with keeping you all focused. But this wizard has shaken me somewhat.”

She took her leave of the rest and headed down the path without a backward glance. Vug watched her go and Gilnur noticed that he was holding a flower in one paw.

Several hours later, the group was sitting largely in silence, except for Azuri and Seth who had made a start on the pile of books Marlin had taken and were engaged in a deep discussion on the relative connections of bullywugs to sahuagin.

Gilnur had returned to the balcony; Vug had remained outside and Gilnur was pretty certain Marlin had found another corner to skulk in. He heard a noise and looking in, saw Zac exit from the top level room, with a new figure in turn.

The figure was bulky, actually a little overweight with a bushy black beard and straight black hair flopped to one side. As he followed Zax down the stairs, Gilnur noticed the pointed ears and lightness of foot that spoke to some elvish heritage.

They all congregated in the room at the main door.

“Well now. This is a stroke of luck,” Zac said excitedly. “I’d like to introduce you all to Sigurd. I knew him years ago when I spent a little time at Kraghammer. We’ve kept in correspondence since then and he was just looking for something to pull him out of his study when I appeared at his door.”

  
  


“A pleasure to meet you all.”

  
  


Gilnur regarded him. “You have experience with dealing with orcs then?”

  
  


“My good fellow, do observe.” He gestured and he now was an orc. “As you can see, I do have a degree of talent,” he continued, his clipped accent at odds with the brutish figure standing before them.

  
  


“Great. Can we please now go?” Droned Vug.

  
  


“Lead the way my good fellow.” Sigurd gestured again and his form resorted to the half-elven figure.

  
  


“Finally,” muttered Vug.

They moved on, returning down the path towards the pool where they had left Barrak and Bhumb. It took only a short while to reach the spot but it was not Barrak who was waiting for them.

  
  


“Aiden?” Gilnur exclaimed. “What’s wrong with the ship?”

  
  


“Nothing wrong with the ship - the sailors are perfectly fine. Nothing had even tried to attack for a bit so I headed to Mimi’s and she sent me up towards this old wizard. I came across Barrak first thing this morning. He’s headed back to the ship in my pack.”

  
  


“Shame,” intoned Vug. “He’d have liked our next destination.”

  
  


Marlin called out for Bhumb and the bullywug raised his head from a nearby pool.

  
  


“Friends, Friends! Bhumb says hello!” 

  
  


“Hello Bhumb, ready for more walking?”

  
  


“Yes, yes!”

  
  


Aiden fell into step with Gilnur, holding his dark bladed weapon in on hand. “See you have swapped a couple of people out.”

  
  


“Mmm. Seth and Azuri have remained with the wizard to try to learn more about this area. Mogra and Sigurd came via magic. It’s a little complicated.”

He spent the next leg of the journey explaining who everyone was and how they had come together, as Vug, Marlin and Bhumb pushed ahead.

  
  


“I’m excited to be visiting this Gathering,” Sigurd was saying at one point. “A ritualised meeting of orcs and bugbears to demonstrate their martial prowess - far more civilised than border skirmishes and none of that long-winded diplomacy. The Gathering was a step forward in relations in this area and have increased relations no end.”

The map provided them from Zac led them along the edges of the swampland proper, following this ridge of the Summit Peaks that skirted through this region of the K’Tawl swamp. It gave them something to track along their passage but they still had to trudge through the murky pools; Bhumb at least continued to revel in the joy of company as the rest plodded onward.

They found a drier patch of land to make camp as the sun started to get low. Taking the first watch, Gilnur settled onto a low rise not too far from the camp, keeping an eye out before the light disappeared and his lack of dark vision became an issue. It also meant that he didn’t have to doff the armour more than he needed to.

He watched as Aiden abruptly detached himself from the group and came over to join him, sitting next to him.

They sat in silence for several minutes until Gilnur relented.

  
  


“What troubles you, Aiden?”

  
  


“I noticed that you didn’t give much of our history to our new party members.”

  
  


“Presumed that that was not my secret to give. Beyond them knowing we were in the Greenwatch together for a time, the rest isn’t too relevant. They don’t need to know about Lakeview.”

  
  


Aiden didn’t answer but brought his sword forward. He held it gently and his eyes were lost in admiration

  
  


“It’s hard for me to say, Gilnur, but this sword worries me.”

  
  


“The shadow producing sword that you found in a temple you couldn’t find again and which has given you magic powers worries you?”

  
  


Aiden’s jaw clenched at Gilnur’s light tone before the draconblood continued in a much more serious tone.

  
  


“That weapon is dark, Aiden. And it’s changed you from the man I met defending the Plains.”

Aiden was still staring at the blade in his hands.

  
  


“I’m having dreams now of the sword, of this mournblade. I don’t remember much from them but I remember the bit that always wakes me up.” He paused for a long moment.

  
  


“And that is?” Gilnur prompted.

  
  


Aiden looked at him for the first time since he had sat down. “I hear a name. ‘Bane’.”

  
  


Gilnur scowled. He was not by any measure a religious or learned individual but he recognised the name of the one who took the title of the Strife Emperor. One of the Betrayer Gods, Bane oversaw the domain of conquest and war, directly opposed to the Wildmother. And also in opposition to Kord who had dominion over both storms and over battle and warfare. Gilnur eyes strayed to the slumbering form of Vug. That would explain a little more what Vug had mentioned to Gilnur and his suspicions of Aiden.

Certainly one sworn to the honour of battle and of might would find issue with one who dealt with mindless carnage and the use of fear, over respect.

  
  


“That’s not good, Aiden,” Gilnur replied bluntly. 

  
  


Aiden’s eyes had returned to his contemplation of the sword

  
  


“I know. I feel that I may need to conquer this sword. Or else it will conquer me.”

  
  


“You could just throw it away now. We have other weapons you could use.”

  
  


“I, we need the powers of this blade for the tasks that we are doing.” He seemed to have to wrench his eyes from the sword. “But keep an eye on me.”

  
  


“Always do.” 

  
  


With that, Aiden stood and strode back into camp, lying on top of his bedroll with the sword against him. Gilnur watched him go back, his eyes hooded as the sun began to sink below the horizon.

*** 

The road was almost a novel experience after the seemingly endless days tracking through murky water. It wasn’t much of a road but it was a definite trail and to the north it became a bridge crossing over a small river that snaked into the distance and back up into the Summit Peaks proper.

Zac’s map had been surprisingly accurate and they were looking along the road to the north, Bhumb splashing in a puddle a few hundred yards back into the trees.

Immediately past the bridge was The Gathering. There were two dozen or more tents and yurts a hundred yards or so past the bridge, lurking in the shadow of a tall, ovoid building that looked nothing more like it had been made by standing in a circle and throwing timber together. Tribal markings and not a small number of bones and skulls decorated it as randomly.

Gilnur was at a loss how they managed to get some of the decor up until he saw the goblins scurrying about and that side of things was a little clearer.

“Looks like you’re up, Sigurd.” He said.

  
  


“Indeed,” replied the half-elf wizard. His form shimmered again into the orc. Gilnur watched him manipulating closer this time and decided that it was an illusion than any form of shape-shifting. As they crested the arcing bridge, and started towards the far bank, a shape shaped out from one of the tents and paused, it’s hairy and lanky form staring at the party. Gilnur immediately took a hold of Vug as he recognised a bugbear.

It grunted and shouted at them. Gilnur heard Vug beginning to growl next to him. Sigurd continued forward, Mogra alongside him and Marlin immediately behind.

  
  


_ We got this _ Gilnur heard her telepathic whisper

  
  


The bugbear shouted again and a couple of other bugbears began to appear, their notice captured by the voice then by the strange group before them.

  
  


Gilnur could hear Vug murmuring then saw Marlin whisper, Sigurd nodding discretely once before he turned back to the bugbear they were now closing on and speaking Common.

“Damn, he doesn’t know Goblin does he.” Gilnur kept his hold and Vug and started forward, Aiden flanking them. “We need to get into speaking range but you need to restrain yourself.”

  
  


Vug snarled. “They are the tribe we encountered at the tower. I’ll let them live if they behave. They aren’t the ones I seek.”

  
  


The halting conversation in front of them was reaching an impasse.

  
  


Gilnur released his grip and rolled his shoulders, taking a hold of his bow though he left his arrows in their quiver. For now.

  
  


Vug bellowed something in Goblin; the first bugbear snarled but replied, gesturing roughly to a second encampment on the far side of the wooden structure.

  
  


Vug switched back to Common. “We need the orcs on that side.” He added something in Goblin, spitting on the floor in front of the other bugbear. It bristled but let him walk away, several other bugbears now in close proximity. A couple moved as the group left, one deliberately stepping close to bang against Gilnur as he passed.

Gilnur bared his teeth but did not otherwise respond; he recognised the attempt to bully them and knew that this wasn’t the time. They had no idea what the protocol was at this Gathering but the tension was palpable. As Gilnur continued walking, he saw Aiden’s weapon hand take a firm grip on the hilt of the sword. Gilnur quickly made a hand gesture that he knew the human to recognise as  _ move on _ .

As they circled the large building, a second encampment came into view beyond, another assortment of tents with a separate design of tribal markings, which Gilnur recognised as that of the orcs they had run into elsewhere in the K’Tawl.

  
  


“That’s a big-ass gate,” Mogra uttered as they continued around the large structure. The gate, large and pretty well reinforced, was open and they could see into the area inside the structure. It was obviously set up as an arena with rickety bleacher seats surrounding most of the central space and a second large entryway at the far end.

  
  


“It’ll be for whatever comes out of that!” Gilnur said in low tones. He gestured to a smaller structure set a little ways out from the arrangement, another solid looking gate bolted from the outside. “And we’ve encountered a couple of things that may have ended up here.”

  
  


“Oh shit, the T-rex!” Aiden’s smouldering anger was momentarily forgotten. 

  
  


“Wait what?” Mogra asked. “You were serious?”

  
  


“What T-rex?” Asked a confused Sigurd.

  
  


Even the stormy-faced Vug looked a little uncertain as the scale of the fighting arena suddenly clicked into focus. Gilnur knew they had to be careful here. The split between the two encampments and this central arena spoke volumes to the careful balance maintained here. It was a more physical version of peace talks, where the activities of the arena were designed to offset what otherwise would be a bloody hatred between bugbear and orc. It must work - Old Minas in his tower having the orcs supply or manner of exotic creatures spoke to that. But the peace here felt precarious.

The bugbears were still watching them, now nearly a dozen regarding the outsiders but not approaching closer. There seemed to be a buffer zone between the two groupings of tents and Gilnur could see an orc or two turning their head as they caught sight of the group headed in their direction.

Whilst the bugbears and orcs didn’t seem to want to cross too near the others tents, there were a number of goblins who were obviously pressed into service as runners, and for servicing the main arena. These scurried about their tasks, eyeing them with suspicious fear; more so as Vug growled at the ones who passed too close.

At the front of the orc encampment lounged one who had to be their chief; a hulking figure sprawled across a crude throne, a dripping hunk of some hunch of meat in one hand

Sigurd coughed and headed towards the figure, 

The chief deigned to acknowledge them as they approached, still chewing slowly on strips of the meat. Other than his eyes, and his jaw, he made no other move, unlike half a dozen orcs who made a rough arc around him, weapons held loosely.

Sigurd, still within his illusionary orc visage, stopped before the chief. 

Right then, thought Gilnur, let’s see this orc negotiation theory in practice.

  
  


“We come seeking your knowledge,” said the wizard. His tone was surprisingly orc-like but he was clearly speaking in Common.

The chief continued to chew, but raised an eyebrow, apparently a little confused.

  
  


“We are looking for a beast in this area and have been told you can help.”

  
  


The chief moved for the first time, looking over to his warriors, befuddled at this orc that approached him, speaking Common and asking for help. His honour guard looked as bemused as he did.

  
  


“We can make it worth your time.” Sigurd added. Gilnur couldn’t see the wizard's face but was pretty sure it would look a little like someone who has realised that the situation is rapidly moving beyond his control.

  
  


The chief leaned forward at this. “Watcha got?”

  
  


“Well, ah, we have …” Sigurd turned to look at the rest. Gilnur knew that none of them had come with the intention to really make any barters. Sigurd turned back. “Is there something you require?”

  
  


The chief cocked his head. “You come here, demand aid then don’t have any offerings to make? You have this all wrong, you’re meant to bring trade and I decide if it’s worth what you want of me.”

Gilnur had heard enough.

  
  


“Old Minas sent us. He needs beast parts but knows you are at the Gathering. He sends us in your stead. We need only to find giant coral snakes and we’ll be away from here and all this entails.”

  
  


The chief nodded at the mention of the wizard and seemed to appreciate the bluntness.

“Fair. But this one,” and here he pointed at Sigurd, “offered trade. So what you got?” He turned his full attention back to Sigurd.

  
  


“Ah, well. How about we offer a fight. You and him.” The orc that was Sigurd pointed at Vug. Vug for his part remained impassive but the rest all glanced nervously at each other.

The orc chief tore another chunk from the hunch and looking Vug over for a moment. Then two.

Casually he threw the hunch onto a beast hide he was using as a rug and rose to his feet.

“Done. This ...bugbear … “condescension in his tone, “fight in the arena. Win and I give you what you want.” 

He picked up a heavy looking great-axe from where it leaned against his crude wooden seat and set off towards the far end of the arena, one of his warriors throwing his own jagged edge spear to his chief, who caught the shaft one handed without pausing.

Gilnur looked to see Vug had already started towards the entrance way they had passed. A goblin ran before him and One of Vug’s great arms snaked out and lifted the goblin by the scruff of the neck.

  
  


“Wot, ah, Put us down!”

  
  


Vug continued walking. “This arena. What are the rules?” He bared his teeth at the goblin who recoiled, as much as he could suspended several feet in the air.

  
  


“Da pit? Fight to da death, mostly. Only one may leave an’ all dat.”

  
  


“Any restrictions on weapons or what you can take in?”

  
  


The goblin shook his head and Vug released him without warning, sending the goblin sprawling in the dirt. It scrambled out of the way

The entrance way led straight into the arena at the level of combat. Steps lead up to the seating on each side, with barred gates available to be swung across to seal the spectators from anything that may pass through the entrance way. The arena floor itself was just the bumpy ground from outside, remains of grass yellow from the lack of sun as large strips of waxed banners were stretched across a crude wooden lattice, obviously just branches and logs gathered from the nearby trees. 

Four hefty poles, trunks of once great trees took the weight of the roof leaving the arena itself clear, positioned equally around the edge of the spectators' bleachers. 

Vug walked straight through while the rest edged into the seating on one side. Gilnur remained near the steps they had come up and the rest spaced themselves out. Cries and howls were coming from outside and at the far end, the chief strode in, a cortege of a dozen orcs or more in his wake, whipping themselves up into a frenzy of excitement.

Gilnur recognised the set-up. It was an honour match, pure and simple. Vug and the chief would fight to see who won. That would determine how much the orc chief would give them. If he defeated Vug, they would be required to give a lot to find out where the snakes were. Should Vug win, they may get the information for just the cost of being cordial and civil.

As the chief strode in, Gilnur noticed a goblin being pushed in. It took a position near the front and held up a dirty looking horn which it spoke into.

“Two enter but only one walks out. No quarter asked or given. No interference from the watchers.” An orc or two jeered him at this; but Gilnur got the impression that these were in jest; he did not expect any of the orcs to do anything to either of the combatants.

The goblin continued. “Let the fight begin!”

The orc chief hadn’t stopped walking; the spear was mounted on his back and he was swinging his great axe loosely. Vug pulled his halberd out and chanted for a moment; shards of ice coalesced on his plate armour. 

There was no salute or pause, both Vug and the chief launched straight into it with the chief lunged inside of the reach of the halberd and bringing his axe around into Vug’s midriff with a ringing clang. The ice shattered and the chief recoiled; Vug swung his own weapon back with a yell, divine power exploded from the blast. The chief shrugged off the hit and riposted with a back swing that nearly beheaded Vug; barely moving his head far enough back.

Gilnur watched the ongoing fight, metal clashing against metal and saw that Vug was already favouring his side from the first blow, a trickle of blood visible below the plate. Much as he didn’t want to interfere with the fight, he also didn’t want to see Vug fall, and the longer the bugbear lasted, the more respect the chief would have, and so the cheaper the cost of the information.

Gilnur was near Mogra and he leant in, speaking quietly under the chanting of the orcs on the opposite side.

“What do you think about a little restorative for Vug? Something to keep him going a little longer?”

Mogra looked sternly at him.

“The rules were quite clear that we were not to interfere.”

  
  


“I know, but maybe just a little something to keep him in the fight for longer,” he glanced as axe blade met halberd head, the combatants pushing either other away. Gilnur indicated the orc. “They’ll prefer a fight that lasts longer than a few moments.”

  
  


“It isn’t something we should be doing.”

  
  


Gilnur reminded himself that Mogra was a Bastion of Vasselheim and so would be one to follow the rules. Though he looked to be wrestling internally with something. Gilnur looked back to see Vug overextend himself and and the chief dodged nimbly, striking a blow with his axe at the same plate that he had hit previously.

The explosion of wind from Vug echoed through the arena and he fell to one knee, a trail of blood in the axe’s wake. The orcs on the far side roared their approval and the orc chief stepped back, looking at them and acknowledging their shouts.

Movement to the side caught Gilnur’s eye; he saw that Sigurd had dropped the orc illusion and had picked up a loose stone. Currently he was leaning near one of the pillars and was muttering into the stone, which he then threw into the ring.

Turning back from his followers, the orc chief missed the throw and he faced Vug again. However, some of the orcs in the stands had seen the stone land in the ring and several orcs cried out in anger, pointing at the human who was attempting to interfere.

Gilnur had no idea what magic Sigurd had tried but his expression made clear that it hadn't worked. He then caught the eyes of several orcs and realised that a few were now moving along the rows of seats towards him. He muttered again, his words lost in the clatter of steel from the combatants and the roar of the orc crowd, the numbers slowly increasing Gilnur could now see as the hubbub attracted more orcs, and now even a few of the braver goblins joining in.

Vug was on the defensive, using the halberd to block the swings from the chief though he was at least back on his feet. Whatever Sigurd was muttering, he turned and ran back from his point near the pillar, moving faster than Gilnur expected until he saw the conjured arcane weave that provided the wizard with more speed.

Sigurd was glancing back when he ran into Marlin; she grabbed him by the eye and twisted. As Sigurd’s face twisted in pain and surprise, she leaned in to quickly murmur. “Go with it!” Then she straightened and obviously began to berate Sigurd for his attempt at interference.

The orcs making their way around saw the display and bought it; nodding as they saw the troublemaker being castigated, though a couple continued to eye him dubiously, suspicious of humans and their sneaky ways.

Mogra made his way to the same pillar; his looks at Sigurd obviously indicating that he did not want to see that again.

There was a cry from the fight and Gilnur saw Vug actually throwing his halberd side on at the chief, not intending to hit him so much as to give the bugbear a moment's breathing space as the orc had to bat the large weapon aside. As he was clearing it out of his way, Vug held his hands to the bleed flowing down his side and prayed. 

The wound must have closed as the flow of blood staunched; without his halberd Vug reached desperately for the great axe lashed to his back and a sweeping blow scraped against the armour of the chief as he dodged the block.

The chief actually grinned; stepping back he threw his great-axe away to one side and confidently pulled the spear out, it’s mean looking blade catching a stray shaft of sunlight.

Vug rushed forward, seemingly gaining a spurt of energy from somewhere and it was the chief’s time to go on the back foot from the ferocity of the charge. Hidden from the other orcs by the pillar, Gilnur caught sight of Mogra chanting healing magic towards Vug. Not a lot by any measure but just a little something to keep him in the fight that little bit longer.

Though he wasn’t looking towards his direction, Gilnur nevertheless gave him a silent nod of gratitude.

Vug seemed much more revitalised than Gilnur would have expected from the healing magic and launched a flurry of blows on the orc chief who had to work the spear to save himself, though Gilnur saw at least one blow land.

However Vug was defending his wounded side more and the chief saw the chink, swinging up the butt of the spear into Vug’s jaw, Vug instinctively moved to defend against another blow from that side; the chief instead lunged and the saw toothed weapon cut into his other flank, making him stumble.

Time slowed for Gilnur at that point; he could see the orcs jeering and chanting with jubilation, recognising that Vug was on the ropes; he could see Mogra end his chanting; he could see Marlin and Sigurd end their charade. GIlnur readied himself to head into the ring, to take the as yet still unused healer's kit to do what he could if the orc chief; already wrenching the weapon free, blood drops spinning in the air and bracing himself for a riposte that would fell his opponent.

And Gilnur saw Aiden stand, murmuring and gesturing with the mournblade, shadows roiling from the naked steel. Time seemed to hold as he released whatever magic he had cast.

The chief paused still, for an instant, then his eyes snapped to Aiden and he snarled.

  
  


“Dishonour!” He called, against the rising jeers of his orcs who could plainly see, even in the half-light of the arena, the intention of spell casting. The chief looked to the swaying Vug. “This is over. You do not get what you seek!”

He pushed Vug then turned his back on the bugbear, plainly leaving the fight.

Whether from spite, or whether his blood-lust was up, Vug gave half a second before his lanky arm swung around catching the orc on the back of the head. The orc dropped to the floor in a heap.

The uproar from the orcs was immense. Immense and furious.

Vug holstered his great axe and grabbed the orc chief’s limp body onto his shoulders, grabbing his discarded halberd and beginning to hurry to the entrance way on the opposite of the orcs.

Mogra uttered another spell and the wound on the back of the orc chief’s head closed over. Gilnur stared at Aiden aghast. The blatant attempt to sway the course of the battle was beyond belief. Even as the rest hurried for the way out, Gilnur tarried, partly making sure that Vug was coming and keeping an eye on the orcs. A couple were pushing their way along the seating banks, howling with rage. But most were running for the other entrance to the arena with that particular gait of soldiers running to arm themselves.

Vug finally made the entrance way and headed out, the limp body of the orc chief bouncing on his shoulders. Gilnur had his bow out with an arrow nocked but did not want to open fire; pausing to fight here would be suicidal; the number of orcs massively outnumbered them and that was before the bugbears. He didn’t know if the honour protocol would have them join up with the orcs or not at this Gathering.

Aiden and Mogra were waiting outside; Marlin and Sigurd already some way ahead. Aiden had his sword ready and had affected a ready pose. 

“So we stand and fight?” His gaze was fixed on the orc encampment where the shouts and yells of those present had roused the rest; Several orcs were visible, headed their way, a mix of brutal looking hand weapons and several getting ready with javelins.

Gilnur roughly shoved him as they went past - “No, we’re leaving.”

  
  


“What?”

“We are a little outnumbered here, just in case you hadn’t noticed!”

  
  


Aiden wavered for a moment then ran after them.

  
  


Attracted by the sounds of shouting and seeing the two humans running past, a few of the bugbears stepped into view. The party continued to head towards the bridge, limited in speed by the lumbering Vug and his burden.

Gilnur was glad to see the bugbears didn’t seem to be moving to block them. He had a sudden idea and raised his voice.

  
  


“The orcs have arms and are moving on you! Watch yourselves, they are coming!”

  
  


Not an exact lie, and it was pretty obvious a ruse. However, these bugbears seemed to be spoiling for a fight and as they looked towards the arena, they could see the orcs charging forward with weapon outs. The bugbears grinned furiously and pulled out morning stars and maces, moving towards the orcs with their own weapons brandished.

  
  


A few of the orcs, not as succumbed to the bloodlust, began to shout in Common - “Stop the outsiders! They betray the Gathering.”

But it was too little too late and their voices became lost in the tumult as the clash of weapons began to ring through the air, attracting more of the bugbears to the commotion, arriving to see their fellow bugbears under attack and more armed orcs on the way.

They reached the bridge and Gilnur turned at the top of it to look back. The fray was expanding, drawing orcs and bugbears in on both sides. He could still see orcs pointing towards him and the rest of the group and figured that they didn’t have long.

Vug had dropped the chief and was accepting manacles from Mogra.

  
  


“We could hold here and take them!” Aiden urged. Gilnur ignored him.

  
  


“Back the way we came,” he said to Vug. “I’ll cover our trail. Mogra, help carry, “he pointed at the orc who seemed to be coming around, “and the rest of you get moving.”

They hurried along the road just a little ways before headed into the first line of trees. Gilnur checked behind to confirm that no-one had yet reached the bridge and he scuffed the tracks where they turned, adding his identifiable footprints a little further along the road before carefully coming off a little further along and heading back to obscure the marks where they entered into the trees, slowly following the trail for just a moment then hurrying after the others.

  
  


They had proceeded a mile or more back from the road and the pools of dark swamp water were beginning to surround them. Gilnur stepped out to find the others in the centre of a thicket of trees to see Vug slamming his face into the face of the orc chief who fell unconscious again. Gilnur made sure that he had been seen then left, taking up a position a few dozen yards back the way they had come.

  
  


The anger was burning white-hot within him. Aiden had warned him last night to keep an eye on him but he hadn’t truly sunk in how much he had changed. No, how much that sword had changed him. They had been so close to getting the information on the snakes, and, possibly more importantly, taking steps to mitigate against their attacks on the orcs in the swamp, and maybe also the bugbears, seeing as it was the tribal marks of the clan they had encountered.

They had stormed into this area and it was coming clear that there was a functioning social system between the factions that called this part of Exandria home. In their hurry to find the parts for the ritual to save Astrid, they were causing ripples that were far larger than the need to rescue one merchant's daughter. Unless this dark secret under the old temple was catastrophic, Gilnur was beginning to doubt their approach. Perhaps they needed to be a little diplomatic in their approach.

That said, Gilnur was struggling to see how the orc chief was going to get out of this one alive. Either Vug or Aiden were very likely to kill him, probably with little warning. And that would go down swimmingly with the orcs … 

Gilnur shook his head, hearing the voices in the thicket, largely Vugs and the chief's guttural tones. If they didn’t let the chief go, then for all intents and purposes, it would be just like they had snuck into the Gathering with the intent to kidnap the chief. And that likely would leave them dodging orc hunters whilst they remained in the K’Tawl.

He became aware that it had all gone silent in the thicket. There was still the sound of bird calls overhead so he doubted that anyone else had arrived. So did the war chief survive or not?

The leaves rustled at the edge of the thicket and a heavy branch was pushed to one side. That Gilnur beheld the orc chief was not the most surprising thing, though Gilnur had reckoned it to be unlikely. That the chief was carrying what looked to be the great axe that Vug had taken was unexpected. Checking the blade from his vantage point, Gilnur could see that there was no fresh blood on it.

The chief regarded him warily but continued to lumber forward. “Your bugbear swore on his god that I would leave safely.”

  
  


Gilnur nodded. He didn’t move from his position and the chief passed him.

  
  


“This wasn’t our intention,” Gilnur said as he passed. The chief grunted but gave no indication of what he was thinking.

As he continued into the trees and was lost from view, Gilnur left his watch position and returned to the trees. Whatever the outcome, they needed to get moving.

He entered to see Marlin looking at the rest, Bhumb by her side, nodding enthusiastically.

  
  


“Bhumb recognises the area, though he’s never gone too far that way. He could lead us part of the way, and I think the chief gave us enough to find this den.”

  
  


“Then we go now.” Gilnur stated.

  
  


“Indeed,” agreed Vug.

  
  


They set off, largely southwards back into the wilds of the K’Tawl. A lot of the last few days of travel had been on the outskirts and had been more temperate terrain but now they were plunged back into the swamps. The pools of plant encrusted water quickly overtook any dry ground and they waded through the water. Sigurd particularly was finding it hard to adjust, mentioning loudly that this was a lot different from the dry, subterranean city that he called home and had he mentioned how dry Kraghammer was?

Despite his protestations, and the portly belly, he was keeping pace with them as they continued under the thickening canopy and the thickening clouds of insects that buzzed over the turgid waters.

They pressed onwards, Bhumb happily splashing in the pools around them, occasionally gesticulating to keep them on the right track. But the group was largely silent, lost in their own dark thoughts.

They made camp that evening in a twisted knot of cypress trees that at least brought them above the water.

Without a word, Gilnur took the first watch. 

They had settled into a routine, those without the ability to see at night without aid, taking the first and last watches, with those who did have darkvision taking their turns after the sun had left the swamp in murky darkness.

For all that he was questioning the actions of the group, Gilnur had to admit that they did work well as a team, each with their abilities that complimented the rest. It was the personality clashes that caused issues and he wondered if the new additions of Mogra and Sigurd would be able to smooth over the rougher edges of Vug, Aiden, and honestly himself.

His watch passed without incident and he slept uncomfortably in a bough of the trees but well enough, rising with the dawn and beginning to ritual of getting his armour donned, taking a moment to channel the weave and checking the days weather - from the sunny globe that floated above his hand for a moment.

Marlin, taking the dawn watch, nodded as she caught the display. At least the weather wouldn’t be fighting them today, though they may have to watch the heat later on.

The twisted trees that they had rested in was as far as Bhumb knew in this area but the chief had said to carry on directly south of this point then follow a narrow tributary which would lead them to a likely den where giant coral snakes could be found.

They set out, quickly finding the narrow waterway on their right, only visible as it was a narrow line where the gnarled roots of the tree didn’t grow and possibly was used as a way to traverse this part of the swamp for the more aquatic creatures.

The group elected not to try to follow it too closely; instead keeping it about a hundred yards or so to their side and roughly remained parallel to its route, though it meandered enough that the distance varied as they travelled onward.

Bhumb suddenly gave that panicked whine they had come to recognise and dived into a reed filled pool. Gilnur, Marlin, and Vug all glanced at each other, Marlin flicking her psychic blades into her hands as the other two grabbed their weapons ready. Aiden and Mogra took their cue from them and Sigurd started.

  
  


“Are we here? What’s up?”

  
  


Marlin smiled darkly. “You’ll learn quickly that if Bhumb hides, it means that something big and ugly is nearby. And seeing as we have Vug with us, that means bigger and uglier than him!”

  
  


Gilnur nocked an arrow as Marlin and Aiden took the lead, Mogra and Vug falling in behind them. Up ahead he could see shafts of sunlight streaking down through a break in the otherwise thick canopy that hid the early morning sun from them.

  
  


The group moved closer, Sigurd moving into line with Gilnur as they approached the snake's den.

Time to see if the orc chief had sent them to where they needed to be.


	10. Breath of the Serpents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hoping to stay one step ahead of the orcs, our party push on to find a den of snakes.
> 
> Some things you can't prepare for ...

Despite his misgivings, as they slowly approached the open space before them, it looked to Gilnur like the chief had been true to the word he gave Vug and the rest.

The break in the canopy was above a bend in the narrow water channel as it turned and weaved in front of them, forming a larger pool before it continued on deeper into the K’Tawl Swamp. In the centre of the pool was a square stone platform, twenty foot on each side with a similar distance of water all around other than a wide strip of land on it’s western edge that linked the platform at it’s western corner and allowed walking access.

On each of the other three corners looked out a statue of a robed and hooded figure, a bowl outstretched. Though the canopy allowed the sun to shine down upon it, creepers had wound their way up each of the figures and across the pale grey paving of the floor.

This little area appeared long abandoned by civilisation; but the large coiled snake in the centre of the platform had obviously found a treasured spot, it’s scales gentling rustling as it slowly coiled in the centre of the platform, apparently warming itself in the rays of the sun.

Mogra paused as he advanced, pointing up to the canopy over the western edge of the glade. Looking in the direction he pointed, it was quickly apparent that there was a swarm of snakes in the branches.

  
  


“Anyone have something that would encourage them to come down?” He whispered.

  
  


Sigurd stepping forward. He kept the incantation low and as he finished a large mouse appeared directly under the branches, squeaking.away. The giant snake seemed undisturbed by the illusion but a number of the snakes slid more into view, a few dropping down around the illusion and striking at it, rearing as their attacks passed through it.

Sigurd gestured and a bolt of fire left his hand exploding into the mass of snakes.

Vug took off running, halberd at the ready. Gilnur took a shot at the giant snake and had to hastily pull the shot as Mogra passed in front of him, followed by Marlin.

Mogra chanted as he moved, with gestures to Vug and to Gilnur. Gilnur felt a wave of divine energy course through him. Vug as well appeared more energised and his first swing of the halberd cut past the giant snake's scales, blood flowing from the wound as it hissed loudly, rearing its head back.

Aiden muttered his own incantation and despite the sun shining upon it, dark shadows seemed to reach from the ground around the giant snake, flowing across the coils of its body. It was lunging at Vug, fending it off with his halberd, and it missed a set of shimmering scales manifest in the air behind it. Mogra directed it to attack and his divine weapon slammed onto the snake. It’s head snapped around to see this new threat, exposing it’s softer throat area and Marlin was able to use the distraction to land both of her psychic blades into it, even as flames of divine light crowned, searing it’s head.

It writhed in pain, the multi-pronged attack distracting it at every turn; loud hissing filling the glade. 

Mogra had paused, his attention caught by movement in the southern part of the pool, near to where Vug was lashing at the giant snake. Aiden stopped alongside him pointing his sword at the creature. The shadows on the sword wreathed it in darkness then he slashed the weapon to the ground; leaving a crescent of shadow edged grey energy blasting towards the giant snake.

Though Gilnur was sure he saw the shadows on the creature reach for the shadows on the blast, it impacted with no effect on the creature's scales. It’s head sped forward to bit again at Vug and he caught his halberd just inside the creature's mouth, fangs dripping with venom clattering against the shaft of the halberd. Vug strained against the mass pushing against him.

Sigurd and Gilnur were already lining up their next attacks as the rest closed the distance. The wizard got his magic off first, a blast of sickish green energy lashing into the snake and a large patch of scales turned dark and withered. It reared back again, pulling against the halberd in it’s mouth and collapsed to the floor, a wheezing rasp from deflating lungs.

  
  


“Watch out!” Mogra called too late. As Vug turned towards the half-orc, the water burst behind him and the massive form of another snake erupted out; muscular coils of it’s scaled body wrapping around the bugbear and pulling him towards the water, dragging him into the shallow water at the edge of the pool.

Gilnur was already adjusting his shot and his next arrow embedded into the scales a little below the creatures head, the thorns growing rapidly out to wrap their poisonous thorns around this new giant snake before it could carry Vug away. 

As Marlin threw another of her blades towards it, Gilnur heard Sigurd cry out behind him and turned to see another swarm of snakes emerging from the low canopy near the wizard, engulfing him, fangs sinking into his exposed flesh.

Something odd happened as Sigurd cried out; Gilnur was sure he could hear a matching scream happening in unison.

Sigurd stopped, frantically grabbing at the small snakes that were threatening to engulf him but the second screaming continued, actually getting louder.

There was an abrupt cracking in the canopy and it just shattered directly over Marlin, branches splintering out as a large humanoid shape smashed feet first.

The screaming became a yell - “Watch out, lady!” - before a goliath, of all things, touched down right where Marlin had, until a moment before, been stood. Gilnur saw a token of featherfall vanishing into nothingness in the grey skinned meaty hand of the eight foot giant. Marlin had one second to gape at the figure before a falling branch in his wake slammed into her head and she suddenly sat on the ground, obviously dazed.

The goliath paid her no mind as he saw Vug being dragged into the pool by the giant green scaled snake that had risen out of the water.

“Gak gets to hit things!” The goliath cried out, happily, pulling a heavy greatsword and charged directly at the snake. His great sword swung around in a mighty blow, cleaving through the snake's upper jaw and the beast immediately went limp. The newcomer grabbed Vug.

“Gak save hairy man!”

The sound of Sigurd stumbling away from the snake swarm broke the air of disbelief and the party got back to it. Mogra reacted first, gesturing for his spiritual scales to move towards him over the pool then causing radiant fire to rain down on the small snakes. As he reached Sigurd, he recoiled suddenly.

“There’s a third one!”

Vug, his paw still grasped by the goliath broke the grip

“We’ll talk later!”

Aiden moved towards Mogra’s side as Gilnur ushered Sigurd behind him. The human gestured and the shadows that crawled on the dark scaled snake that had been sunning itself now where visible on another dark scaled giant snake, fangs visible and dripping with venom

Even as Vug skirted the pool, headed for the giant black snake, the water broke at the shrine and a fourth snake emerged from the water, rearing up on it’s striped body.

Marlin was still sprawled on the ground, shaking her head and holding a hand to a bloody mark on her temple, not that far from the newest snake. Gilnur swung the bow from the dark snake and released a shot at this new arrival.

It lodged in it’s flank and first, he focussed on the arrow, causing it to dig just a little deeper into the beat’s flesh then channelled his energy to bring the brambles out, sickly looking against it’s vibrant scales.

  
  


“We need to protect Marlin!” He shouted.

  
  


His words were lost as the charging Vug was drenched as yet another giant snake snapped out of the rippling waters behind him, fangs clanging against a pauldron and jerking him abruptly though luckily not piercing his skin

However, his words had apparently been heard by the goliath who leapt at the striped monster in the centre of the glade, furious laughter rising above the loud hissing.

  
  


“New snake for Gak to hit!”

  
  


The goliath, this Gak, plunged his great sword deep into the snake which hissed loudly, snapping at him as he dodged back. Mogra’s spectral scales returned and took advantage of the distraction and slammed into the creature's head. It collapsed to the ground and Gak swiped low, carving a bloody trail as he cut through both eye sockets, brain matter splattering into the water.

Mogra stepped back as the regular snakes swarmed him. He called out to the Lawbearer and many snakes were flung back, bloody wounds covering them. Not all of the snakes were affected and Mogra collapsed as the snakes dug their fangs into him, burying him in a seething mass of scales.

  
  


“Gilnur, deal with those!” Aiden stepped towards the snarling dark snake, the blade smoky with shadow that stretched out as he slid the edge along the snake's side, blood welling from the long cut.

Gilnur felt the divine blessing from Mogra’s spell fade and saw the spectral scales wink out. He knew then that Mogra was unconscious and if they didn’t get to him quickly, there would be no way to get him back. He reached for the spear, running forward, locking eyes with Vug quickly, who was turning, also aware.

Gak splashed through the water’s edge as Sigurd scorched the cheek of the fifth giant snake and the goliath's blade cut through more of it’s flesh as he pivoted with a bulky grace past Vug, cleaving deep cuts into the writhing snake.

Gilnur slid through the damp earth, swinging the spear low. He swept a few from Mogra’s unmoving form but not enough to stop several more rearing up for a final strike, and rearing up just enough for Vugs blow sweeping around, skimming Mogra’s head to catch them bodily and send them flying away in bloody chunks of snake meat. He whirled the halberd around his head as he leaned down and sent his god's divine healing energy into the fallen half-orc.

Mogra gasped and pushed himself to his knees, throwing the last few snakes away with the action. He gestured desperately and another wreath of divine flames seared through the head of the giant snake that had attacked him from the jungle depths, the radiant energy dispersing as the beast fell to the ground with a thump. 

Gak had been steadily engaging the last giant snake, pulling it’s attention away from the cluster of them around Mogra. Aiden dived in low, the blade sweeping over the burned snake, pulling shadows from it’s fresh corpse and striking low, distracting it from the goliath for a moment. Aiden pulled the shadows around himself and with a swirl of dark smoke disappeared from that spot, reappearing behind Gilnur.

The giant snake watching the smoke cloud saw it burst apart as Vug lunged through the space Aiden had been, plunging his halberd deep into the snake's chest. There was an explosion of light within its body and he wrenched out the halberd with a spray of dissipating energy and viscera. It fell into the pool with a splash, and slowly sank.

There was no silence - the laughter of Gak continued to fill the air as the rest turned to look at him.

“Good fun!” He bellowed. “Time for rest!”

Gilnur slowly straightened and traded a look with Aiden, their weapons still ready. The last time they had seen a goliath, it had been at the receiving end of a charge of a herd of the humanoids. But there was a light-heartedness to the laughter that clashed with the obvious blood-thirsty instincts. And besides, he wasn’t charging at them. Always a bonus.

As Gak’s laughter subsided, Vug spoke up.

  
  


“Which ones are the giant coral snakes? Gilnur, did we bring that bestiary?”

  
  


Gilnur opened his snout to say no when Gak pointed at the striped one in the centre of the glade. “That one with pretty scales is coral snake.”

  
  


Mogra forced himself to his feet. “Ow.” He headed over to look at the still dazed Marlin, moving carefully

  
  


Sigurd looked at them all. “Why did we need a particular giant snake.”

  
  


“Need Zac to make us up something called The Serpent’s Breath. Part of a component for a ritual we need doing to save a girl from, well, I don’t what.” Gilnur admitted, his eyes not leaving the goliath.

  
  


“And which bit do we need?” Vug asked. “Venom sacs? Gonna be messy to get them.”

  
  


“Zac could get them out. Could we take the body back to him?”

  
  


“Damn heavy. Hey, Gak. “Vug shouted the name a little hesitantly but the goliath turned.”Thanks for the assist by the way. Think you and me can carry this through a swamp for a day or two?”

  
  


Gaks’ brow furrowed and he appeared to be giving it some thought as he regarded the body of the snake, not seemingly worried by its length or girth though it was likely four or five times the length of his 8 foot body. Vug shook his head in despair.

  
  


“We don’t need all of it,” Gilnur interjected. “I checked with Zak the details. We need it’s res-pira-tory tract,” he stumbled on the unfamiliar word, then saw the blank faces from the rest. “Basically everything from the lungs up,” he simplified. He turned, a little hesitantly, to Gak. “Hey, fancy chopping a snake up?”

  
  


Gak’s eyes lit up and he swapped the great sword for an axe. “How many pieces?”

  
  


“Well, let’s start about a quarter of the way up from the tail.”

  
  


Gak set about the grisly task with zeal as Gilnur retrieved his spent arrows.

Mogra and Marlin limped past.

  
  


“This is going to take a while,” he mentioned to them. “You’ve certainly got time for a bit of a rest.”

  
  


They both just nodded wearily. He looked back at the goliath merrily hacking away at the giant snake body and sighed, then removed most of his items, leaving just his taken great-axe in his hand and he went to join in.

He and Gak spend an hour or more making cuts into the snake's body. Luckily they didn’t need all of the lung as a wild swing cut through the bottom of the elongated lung but the pair were able to carve the rest of the body away from the top third or so of the snake, Gilnur having to grimly agree to Gak’s comment that the stripes made the cutting easier.

As they carried out the gruesome task, he took a moment to ask Gak how he came to be there.

  
  


“Gak was minding his own business, sleeping after drinking when suddenly there was a wizard type in front. Says he needed my help and that I owed him.” Gak paused as he chopped through the spinal column. “Pro’bly true. I ask if he needs me to hit summat and he says yes.

“Then he hands me a token like, oh me get.” He paused again and rummaged through a now blood splattered pouch or two. Gilnur, presuming that the goliath meant the featherfall token, patiently waiting until Gak remembered it had gone.

“Oh. Never mind. Then wizard type says he’ll send me straight where I need to be.

“Next thing, I’m in the sky, falling. Did that from a roc once. Not great.” He looked crestfallen a moment then brightened again. “Magic save me then also.”

He carried on for a moment then looked at the distant group, resting well away from the blood spray. “Is lady okay?”

  
  


Gilnur followed his gaze to see him looking at Marlin, with a look of concern on his face. He had still been dubious of the goliath up to that point but it was that that decided him to back off on his distrust, at least for now.

  
  


“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Not every day a goliath lands on you.”

  
  


“No,” Gak chuckled. “True dat. And normally people don’t get up when I do land on them.” He nodded in satisfaction as the spine finally snapped..

After they had finished butchering the giant coral snake, Gilnur mournfully looked at himself in the reflection of the pool, now covered from snout to foot talon in gore. Checking the water first, he splashed at his face, vaguely thinking of washing it off. Gak cried out and leapt into a massive cannonball.

Gilnur stood there, now soaking wet. At least it had got a good amount of blood off. By the time that he was sorted, the rest were impatient to leave. Now late morning, they needed to be off and as far towards their destination before any orcs or bugbears fron the Gathering seeking reprisal came across them.

Gilnur was tired already from the exertion but Gak and Vug lifted the snake's head and throat and began moving it through the soggy swamp land. Bhumb as usual was waiting for them from the depths of a pool. The head of the giant coral snake worried him until Gilnur routed through his pack and pulled out one of the silver forks they had found on the bullywugs in the temple, asking Bhumb if he could guide them back to the wizards tower quickly.

Bhumb was so entranced by the shiny silver he quite forgot his apprehension over the snake head and bounded off, as happy as Gilnur had seen him.

And in contrast to Marlin. Mogra suspected she had a concussion from the impact. He had magicked the damage away but she needed some quiet time to properly recover. They pushed on as the day progressed; Bhumb managing, for the most part, to find the dry trails and raised banks that made the dragging snake head easier for Gak and Vug.

And it was Bhumb’s scared whine as he dived into a pool and submerged into the roots of a nearby cypress tree that warned the party of incoming danger. Up ahead of the party swaggered a pair of half-ogres, traces of their orcish heritage evident in their features. They caught sight of the party and the reaction was instant, roaring and beginning to lumber forward, obviously itching for a fight. 

Not encumbered by a giant snake’s head, or assisting Marlin, Gilnur reacted swiftly and an arrow sprouted from the arm of one of the giant creatures. But with no powers to bolster his arrow strikes, due to him pushing on without rest, the half ogre barely seemed to register the hit and mid-stride pulled out a huge javelin, throwing it wildly. The throw was poor but if that thick weapon had hit … 

Mogra was setting Marlin down but Sigurd stood before them; as the first half-ogre gaping bound brought it closer, he inscribed a sigil in the air. As it’s partner tried it’s luck with its own javelin - to no avail - it skidded to a halt, reaching its hands to it’s head as if something had landed on it and began punching, as if fending off something only it could see. 

Gak and Vug had both dropped the head and were running forward to engage the half-ogres; Gak reached his target first and was laying into it with his great-sword, each slash causing damage as the beast before him yowled in rage and anger.

As he finished making sure Marlin was safe, Mogra was chanting and Gilnur felt a surge of divine energy; his next shot again at the half-ogre beating it’s own head and now stumbling to the side towards the large water pool that flanked them.

Leaving Gak to deal with the one, Vug engaged the other, ripping through it’s shoulders with a high swing; he instinctively stepped back and a blast from Aiden’s sword ripped along the dirt and buffeted the creature as it stepped again towards the water, seemingly unaware of the party. Gilnur got another shot off, this time against the one trying to clobber Gak with it’s great club but unable to get any hits in.

His fingers still lit by the arcane sigil in the air before him. Sigurd twisted it and the stumbling half-ogre punched himself in the face before falling over with a shaking thud. The sigil disappeared and the wizard punched forward, flames appearing on his knuckles to form a tight ball of red fire before speeding towards the remaining half-ogre. The fiery blast made it step back as the fiery light underlit the features wickedly as it disappeared into the swamp behind; the creatures roar suddenly stilled as Gak thrust his greatsword straight into and through the creatures sternum. It looked at him stupidly before it too slid to the ground and lay still.

“Watch out,” Gilnur shouted. 

Whether attracted by the commotion,or whether the half-ogres had already been goading them but the water burst either side of the dirt mound they were upon and more of the K’Tawl giant frogs hopped from the water, indistinct shapes in water revealing two, three, four of the creatures. One landed near Gak, it’s sticky tongue missing as the goliaths stretched away. Two more landed by Vug who desperately whirled his halberd, in anticipation of their attacks.

Mogra was moving forward now, spear at the ready as his spiritual weapon again appeared and clattered on one of the frogs pressing Vug. It give a stilted croak; Mogra thrust at the other as Vug steadied himself.

The bugbear inhaled then gave a great bellow; all four of the giant frogs seemed to quiver as if suddenly frightened. Aiden blasted at one of them again but the attack seemed a little weak; and he scowled darkly. The frogs made half-hearted attempts to ensnare Gak, Vug and Mogra; all three of whom dodged the attacks; and as Gilnur was bringing his next arrow up, he could see the fourth frog pause, and begin to scramble to turn around in the low water that it was still in.

Vug darted in with a punished thrust and Gilnur yanked his bow to one side as Vug entered his view; the arrow flying high and wide and disappearing into the swamp water far beyond the retreating giant frog.

Gilnur cursed and watched Sigurd as the wizard walked past him, his hands forming arcane patterns. Throwing them out, he cast a beam of sickly green light at the retreating frog, and the sickly green sunk into it’s slimy skin.

With a triumphant roar, Gak impaled the giant frog before him; it’s eyes bulging obscenely as the great sword split it’s head. He ripped it free in a gush of mucous and slashed backwards as another of the giant amphibians hopped nearer, trying to avoid Vug’s heavy swings. Gak’s sword cut through its belly and it croaked once as it deflated, innards spilling onto the ground. Vug arrested his swing and instead turned to the other close to him, trying to free itself from the pressure of Mogra’s spiritual weapon upon it. The bugbears reach allowed him to impale it before it could do so.

The last frog continued to move away, speeding up as both Gilnur and Aiden got parting shots upon.

Gak was running forward with a javelin but skidded to a halt as Vug stepped into his path.

  
  


“Leave it. There is no honour in attacking a creature that is merely running away.”

  
  


They looked around but the swamp waters seemed devoid of life. Until Bhumb raised his head from the roots he had hidden in

“All clear, friends?”

  
  


Gilnur spent a couple of near fruitless minutes searching for used arrows as Vug and Gak pushed the bodies from their path, only able to retrieve one. He frowned at his quiver, no longer full. And no spare arrows in his pack, either more was the pity. Gilnur had been working on the speed of his draw recently and was pretty sure he could get it down to half the time he had needed even a few weeks ago. But that wasn’t going to help if he didn’t have arrows to shoot in the first place

As he hunted, the rest of the party checked the bodies of the half-ogres. Their great clubs were too unwieldy for even Vug and Gak and the only spoils they carried were a half eaten lunch and an enormous pair of furry boots.

Pushing onwards into the late afternoon humid air, they were forced to make camp some distance shy of the tower, though the rise upon where it could be found was just ahead of them. The night watch passed without incident, Gilnur thankfully resting after his watch was complete.

They pushed on the next morning. The snake’s head had weather surprisingly well but they had to shoo clouds of buzzing insects from the weeping flesh where they had carved it yesterday. Bhumb managed to get them to the base of the rise where he stopped in the pool they had left him at previously and the companions continued up the rise, Mogra and Gilnur aiding Gak and Vug drag their gory prize up the rocky path behind Aiden, Sigurd and Marlin.

Marlin looked better this morning but was still complaining of a headache. She was walking unaided through so there was noticeable improvement.

The sun was reaching its zenith, hazy behind a thin layer of cloud as they arrived at the tower.

Gilnur stepped up to the door and knocked heavily upon it. It was opened shortly by Tim, crumbs around his mouth. He looked at the dragonborn before him, without saying a word.

  
  


“We have the coral snake for your master,” Gilnur urged. 

  
  


“Oh, right.” Zac appeared, stepping out of the ground floor kitchen around and his face brightened as he saw Gilnur.

  
  


“Ah, hello. It’s you. Glad to see you are not yet dead.”

  
  


“We have your parts for the Serpent's Breath.” He stepped back from the door.

  
  


Zac’s expression turned studious and he hurried to the door, peering excitedly at the remains.

  
  


“Excellent. Excellent. Yes I can get you some Serpent’s Breath from that.” He started to raise his hands when Gak shouted.

  
  


“You! You wizard! You made Gak fall!”

  
  


“Ah, I did?” Zac’s hand remained partly up as he squinted at the goliath, obviously trying to place him. “Oh yes, you. Glad to see you.” He looked to Gilnur. “I trust he was of assistance?”

  
  


“He definitely was. Though he arrived falling through the canopy.”

  
  


“Mmm, really? Must had had the trajectory a little off. Teleportation is a little haphazard if you haven’t been there before.” He seemed to be making a mental note, muttering “didn’t carry the two.”

Gilnur coughed and Zac, almost absently, moved his hands and the snake’s head vanished in a blink of arcane light.

“Well I can get that made up for you for tomorrow if you need it that urgently.”

  
  


Gilnur regarded him. “That would be appreciated. Mimi will be expecting us by now.”

  
  


“Jolly good. I’ll get right on that.”

  
  


He turned to head indoors when the shadow of Vug loomed over him.

  
  


“Would you have something else that would be of assistance to us, wizard? Only you sent us to a gathering of orcs when you apparently could send this goliath straight to us. Then we had to fight giant frogs and half-ogres on the way back. Feels like we could use a little something?”

  
  


“Oh, really. Did you happen to bring the giant frogs up with you?”

  
  


“What? No, we were carrying the giant snake's head.”

  
  


“Pity. Good eating on one of those. I’ll have a look for something - did you have something in mind?”

  
  


Vug looked back at him. “Something magical,” he said flatly.

  
  


“Hmm, I’ll check. Rest well.” He disappeared. Tim sighed and trudged up the central stairway.

  
  


The rest of the day passed slowly. Seth and Azuri were happy to see them again. It seemed that their research into the local fauna of the area had moved into an exploration of ley lines and elemental gates; the previously unused room on the mid level now had a plethora of scribbled parchments stuck to the walls and half-opened books covering the floor, interspersed with all matter of haphazardly placed arcane symbols.

Marlin sighed.

“Keep the goliath with you when you head off. I’ll stay here with these two and try to contain the madness.”

She was interrupted by a squawking bellow shrieking through the tower. Poised for action, they found instead of the expected monster, it was in fact Gak, apparently operating a set of bagpipes that had far too many pipes and clockwork workings. Gilnur had a feeling that most of the apparatus actually didn’t do anything and there was something like a music box inside but he didn’t want to get too close - though Azuri was spellbound, he eyes wide as she stared at it longingly.

Marlin just shuddered as she realised there were bagpipes. “Definitely take the goliath!”

***

The morning was wearing on when Zac reappeared, carefully holding a vial that looked much more solid than normal, made from a smoked glass with a wax sealed stopper. He slowly approached, his eyes fixed on the vial he held in two hands before him.

  
  


“Hmm, had to work a little later than expected. But a vial of Serpent’s Breath as requested. My own invention.”

  
  


“How long will it last?” Gilnur asked, mindful of the various warnings about it’s volatility.

  
  


“Oh well. If you can keep it still, it should keep for months. But one sudden jolt and it could disrupt the bonds and it’ll separate.”

The party looked at each other then all looked at Sigurd. 

  
  


“Our wizard will take it.” Vug said firmly. Sigurd looked like he may have been about to object when Zac turned to him.

  
  


“Hmm, very good. Oh, found a thing of arcane nature that may be useful.” Tim walked up as Zac was patting his pouches. “Where’s it gone? Oh, thank you boy. Yes, I found a spell scroll I don’t have any need for wedged in a corner. A scroll of, ah let me see, oh yes, a scroll of Haste. If that would be useful.”

Sigurd just nodded, his attention now on the ornate vial he held and was slowly placing into a pouch.

  
  


“Excellent. Well, if this is all who is going then would you like me to send you straight there? Save risking the Serpents Breath on a simple mis-step, hmm.”

  
  


Vug glowered; the thought of them having to spend several days trekking through the swamp when the wizard could use his magic to instantly move them to places obvious.

Gilnur spoke before the bugbear could.

  
  


“That would be appreciated. And you’ll remember to allow for the elevation this time? We don’t have tokens of feather fall.”

  
  


Zac waved dismissively. “Oh I’ve been to Mimi’s before. No worries there. Ready to go?”

  
  


Gilnur looked at Aiden, Mogra, Vug, Sigurd and Gak in turn then looked back at Zac.

“Yes.”

  
  


They were ready for what lay next. Or so they hoped.


	11. Sight of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our party now have only one part of the ritual to find. 
> 
> Is time running out?

In fact, it was not as bad as expected.

They remembered at the last moment to retrieve Bhumb from his lurking pool though the trek for him up to the tower began to get a little close to the point where he was just beginning to dry out

They had already experienced the lurch from their trips to Zac’s underground area and the dizzying shift from Zac’s tower to the swampland outside Mimi’s was not too much different. They were also only six feet above the ground so the fall was much shorter than with Gak’s spectacular entrance over the snake grove. 

The boggy ground they landed in helped to cushion the fall and apparently provided enough cushioning that the Serpent’s Breath seemed unaffected.

Bhumb immediately submerged himself, obviously glad to return to a watery locale. They gave him a moment. He surfaced and upon seeing Mimi’s glade, his eyes lit up and he scampered across calling for her loudly, face full of wonder at having gone from a horrid dry windy place right to Mimi’s.

The group was glad that Mimi was in her glade and she soon released the wards, allowing them in and smiling as Bhumb stumbled on his words in his excitement.

  
  


“Hello,” she said to them all as they walked up to her. “Good to see you again.” SHe paused, looking closer. “I can see some new faces?” She particularly regarded Gak with apprehension.

  
  


“The others are fine,” Gilnur replied. “They have all chosen to remain at Zak’s for now then head towards the ship in a few days. Aiden I believe you had met before. Gak here, and Sigurd were brought in by Zac to assist us in our endeavours. Mogra over there was a surprise addition but has proved his worth already.”

  
  


“Very good, and what you went for?” Sigurd pulled out the vial and carefully handed it to her. She held it up to the morning sun, peering at the liquid. “Yep, that looks the stuff. Well done on getting it back.”

  
  


Vug stepped up. “I’m afraid that we had to kill a few snakes to obtain this.”

Mimi sighed a little but didn’t look surprised. “It’s hard to obtain Serpent’s Breath without first killing them. I’m a little surprised that Old Minas didn’t have any to spare though.”

  
  


“An incident involving bugbears, and a gelatinous cube, that we walked slap bang into the centre of.”

  
  


She shook her head. “Yep, that sounds about right. Always did have a thing for the more exotic monster, that one.” She gestured into her hut and they all followed her in. “You know, the local bugbear and orc tribes have an annual event involving trials of strength. Against each other and also whatever beasts, creatures, monstrosities and even aberrations they can capture and through into a pit.”

  
  


“Yeah,” Gilnur said carefully. “The Gathering. We had an experience there also.”

  
  


Mimi didn’t reply, just shaking her head as she gently set the vial on a shelf upon the pile of dinosaur bones and the sack of griffon feathers. She regarded the items then turned.

  
  


“Looks like we are nearly there. Just need the blackened pearl and we’ll be set for the ritual.”

  
  


“We meant to ask about that. We had been collecting herbs for potions but were wondering if you happened to have the knowledge to cast a spell of water breathing?”

  
  


“It’s not a spell I normally had to hand. Let me check my notes.” She turned and made her way to another shelf near a stone table. She pulled down a dusty parchment and unrolled it, her finger traces down the writings upon it.

  
  


“Oh, well. Look at that. I did learn that spell once upon a time.” She looked at the parchment, a look of mild surprise on her face.

  
  


Gilnur breathed out, a little relieved. Kyne had taken all the herbs when she had left them at the wizards tower and he was glad that they didn’t now have to scavenge the swamp looking for those particular plants and tubers.

  
  


“And you can cast it on us?” Vug prompted.

  
  


“Oh no. At least, not until tomorrow. I would need to rest and remind myself of some of these inflections.” She remained enthralled by the scroll, apparently her notes triggering remembrances of other spells she had once known.

  
  


“It’s a day of rest then,” Vug said flatly. Gak’s face fell at the idea.

*** 

The next morning was as warm and humid as ever, clouds chasing across the sky; with the warmth not seemingly affected when the sun was obscured. Talking through the spell and thinking of the likely limitations of having to be underwater, Gilnur had decided to remain in the plate armour but had divested himself of most of his adventuring kit, along with an assortment of weapons. He had deliberated on the bow but decided in the end to take it - Mimi herself had a longbow so he knew that he would be able to replace the bow string and deal with any errant fletching. And the weight of the plate would keep him to the bottom so the arrows were less likely just to float away.

The group left a number of other items, particularly perishable goods and the few items of paper. And the assorted potions that would be a challenge to drink under water. Mimi had assured them that magic would be possible under the water - to which Mogra and Sigurd looked particularly relieved. 

Gilnur was glad their new additions were settling in. Despite his inability to actually speak the language of the race he purported to be studying, Sigurd was showing that he could keep up with their pace. And Mogra seemed to be coping with his circumstance well, though Gilnur wondered if that would last once they got to Drynna and the possibility of a ship that could take him back to his homeland. Gak seemed a simple soul. Gilnur would hate to face him in battle but the goliath barbarian seemed to be an amicable sort otherwise.

The thought made him think of Aiden and he looked over at the human. Aiden was pretty much stalking through the swamp, glaring at everything as if it was out to get him. The muggy air was oppressive to be sure but Gilnur remained worried about him. He remembered Aiden as a noble and gallant man, dedicated to the peace of his village and the surroundings lands in his part of the Dividing Plains. There was a definite cruel streak now. Gilnur just couldn’t tell if it was the reaction to the loss of his people, or if the sword had any part in this. There was definitely something amiss with that weapon - Vug certainly didn’t trust it. 

It felt odd to trust a bugbear more than a friend, but other than Vugs distaste for his own race, he had proven himself dependable. And Gilnur could appreciate that distaste in some measure.

The lake came into view before them.

It remained as calm as when they had passed it some days before. This time, they strode into the lake, pausing as they got waist- and chest-deep to psyche themselves up before putting their heads underwater.

It took an effort for them all to trust the magic Mimi had cast on them before they left her. Gilnur had to deliberately think to inhale the water and almost instinctively had to fight the urge to fight to the surface and the gagging reflex as the water filled the lungs. But he forced himself to breathe and he felt his heart pumping.

He tried speaking and though the words felt garbled, the lack of air odd, it was still possible and he could understand the others as they adjusted to the peculiar sensation. Holding his hand out, he channeled the weave and watched as a glowing sun appeared above it, clouds passing in a reflection of the weather above the lake’s surface then just the image of the sun.

They continued forward with the loose plan of heading straight to the centre then worrying about a search pattern if they hadn’t seen anything.

Gilnur had been worried that visibility would be an issue but the river that fed the lake was strong enough to stop a lot of the plant matter carried from having time to accumulate. The sun, now unobscured by the clouds, was able to shine into the lake and allowed them to see for some distance.

Continuing on, Gilnur, Mogra and Vug trudged through the mud at the bottom of the lake, Vug and Gilnur using halberd and spear to aid their movements. The rest floated around them, Gak particularly enjoying freedom of movement and Bhumb delighting that his friends were able to join him in his underwater world. 

Aiden was focussed forward; it seemed a little like the water was buoying him up a touch, as if he was a little more at home in the water. The human pointed ahead and they noticed up ahead were ruins, just coming visible in the dimly lit water.

It appeared to be a small village, at least at one point. Stone walls had mostly been lost to the passage of time and the ever flowing water but at one point there had been a settlement here, the remains of stone houses around them.

Pushing through the rubble, from the gloom they began to make out a low stone building, oddly still intact. A temple of some sort though if there had been any carvings or decorations on the outside, these had long been swept away.

Mogra and Aiden pointed towards the rubble to one side of the temple, angling the other way. Gilnur struggled to see why for one moment then caught sight of the giant clam that lurked in the midst of the detritus. Definitely didn’t want to get caught by one of those.

They continued around the side of the temple, which they could now see was covered in a pale green tile, striated to resemble deep water seaweed. On the southern edge of the squat building, worn stone steps led up to a large open doorway. 

Vug and Mogra strode up the steps, Gak alongside them as Gilnur paused to check around them. He couldn’t see anything else.

There was a sudden exclamation behind him and he turned to see the rest pulling out weapons. Aiden floating slightly above and behind the others was mouthing something lost in the water. Gesturing with his sword, Gilnur was certain he saw shadows cast forth from the blade 

Vug bounded in, his movements slowed by the water, slashing at something out of Gilnurs sight. A glow towards the back of the single room that filled the temple lit up that corner as the bugbear paladin gestured mid-swipe and a glowing spectral version of his halberd appeared, sweeping easily through the water and cutting into a figure, dark in the gloomy interior. It’s fish-like face contorted in pain, scales reflecting the light of Vug’s Spiritual Weapon and Gilnur realised that there were Sahuagin within. 

Mogra finished his own enchantment and Gilnur felt divine energy again settle around him, recognising the brief shimmer on Gak just ahead as they entered. Giving his eyes chance to adjust to the dim interior, Gilnur swept his shield into a defensive position, spear before him.

His eyes glanced around. To his right, Vug had just impaled a sahuagin, a cloud of dark blood expanding from it’s pierced chest. At the far right corner, another sahuagin was turning, reaching for a trident. Gilnur’s eyes passed over a statue, once a female humanoid but now defaced with crude carving to indicate some shark like beast. As he swept the room, his gaze was transfixed by what he saw just before him. A huge sphere of darkness filled the left-hand side of the room. His ears picked up a cacophony of soft, alien whispers and abhorrent wet slurps and he could feel the cold sphere leeching any heat from the water nearby.

A last sahuagin, pressed against the outside wall to his far left, stared at the sphere in abject horror, her markings and shark totems indicating a priestess perhaps. But this wasn’t her magic and Gilnur refused to look back at Aiden, for fear of what he would see.

A ripple of the sphere erupted into two sahuagin, swimming frantically. There was frost visible on their forms and Gilnur for one instant was sure he saw a milky white tendril in the darkness behind one of the aquatic persons, a grazing touch leaving burnt scales in its wake on the sahuagin’s leg.

The priestess seemed to regather herself seeing her comrades emerge and Gilnur saw her gesture. A bolt of pale sea-green energy formed for an instant in her palm before it swept past Gilnur and Gak. Though it impacted on Vug, Gilnur caught the brief shimmer of divine power and the bolt of light just dispersed into the water, with no apparent effect.

The bugbear looked over to her and the sahuagin beyond him brought it’s trident around and swam at him. The trident scraped across his breastplate harmlessly but the movement brought it in close enough to clamp it’s teeth into his collarbone, ripping a small chunk of flesh away which it swallowed.

There was a ray of sickish green energy that went wide of that sahuagin as it twisted around Vug - Gilnur caught Sigurd cursing from his swimming position high in the doorway. There was another ripple in the dark sphere. Expecting another of the fish people, Gilnur and Gak were both taken aback as a shark burst through, acid burns on its flanks.

Gak steadied himself and pushed the beast away. It turned, as the black sphere just suddenly  _ wasn’t _ , and lunged back at the goliath as Aiden shot past, sinking his sword deep into the rubbery flesh.

On the other side of the temple, the sahuagin darting back from Sigurd’s missed magical attack, stiffened as Vug pushed off the floor and got his halberd into the things chin, plunging the head of his weapon deep into it’s skull. He kicked off the body and turned in the water, diving towards the shark as it wrestled free of Aiden’s sword. His spiritual weapon shot forwards but the vicious predator snapped it’s tail and shot to the roof above the strike. 

With a second burst of energy, Mogra’s spiritual scales manifested below it, catching it under it’s jaws as it turned tightly to strike again. The half-orc chanted and the bell sound of another spell was muffled by the water though caused the large fish to quiver for a moment, blood wafting into the water now from several wounds.

One of the sahuagin who had escaped from the darkness turned its attention from the struggling shark as Gilnur arrived at it, plunging his spear into its torso. It tried to grab at it but he pulled it free and stabbed again, straight through it’s sternum. It juddered once then floated limply as he turned to face the priestess, teeth bared.

As the shark recovered from Mogra’s spell, it met Gak headed towards it, greatsword leading. His blade entered the beast's mouth and punched through the roof of the jaw, arresting it’s motions. He ripped the blade out, leaving a trail of watery blood and dove back towards the priestess, who barely pushed back to avoid the full force of the blow.

She gestured, uttering something in her garbled tongue and Gilnur was just a little too slow to avoid a spectral trident slicing along his snout. She took advantage of his side step to cast again, some of her wounds closing a little as Gak brought his weapon up again, a frenzied grin on his face. The last sahuagin stabbed at him with his trident and Gak just grabbed it, wrenched it away. 

Another beam of the green light angled down from Sigurd and splashed against the priestess, her scales discolouring as the energy wracked through her for a moment. Dodging to her side, Gilnur caught a glimpse of the other side of the temple. Somehow a much larger sahuagin had emerged from somewhere and was engaging Mogra who was reeling from the unexpected assault. Sheltering behind the shield, he pointed towards the new combatant and Vug and Aiden both followed his gaze, turning in the water and moving to assist Mogra.

The final sahuagin now recovered from the dark sphere fell back from Gak’s advance, jarring the priestess who inadvertently stepped forward where Gilnur was already pushing forward with the spear. She coughed up dark blood as the spear smashed through her rib cage; her spiritual trident evaporating into motes of light around Gilnur as she went limp. As he pulled the spear from her, He saw Mogra’s scales swept around opening up the back of the head of the last sahuagin who had missed the movement.

Gilnur turned and alongside the weapon, headed towards Mogra, wounds bleeding into the water around them. Aiden was carving sweeping blows from the sword, crescents of eldritch power arcing down at the huge sahuagin form, frenzy on it’s priscine face at these interlopers.

Vug finally got behind him and thrust the halberd into its back, with a distorted boom of divine energy exploding around it’s form. It paused, rearing back in pain and Vug Spiritual Weapon cut through the water and into its neck and it remained in the reared back position as the life left it’s body.

A clattering broke through the stillness; Gak had swum too close to a giant clam nestled on the floor near the statue and he had barely escaped being sucked into its maw. The goliath roared in rage, no less muted for being in water and set about the crustacean with his weapons, carving slivers of shell with each blow.

Mogra closed his eyes, hands in supplication and his wounds closed over as a pulse of divine light briefly lit the underwater temple. Gilnur felt the cut on his snout close over.

As the sounds of Gak’s rage continued, Gilnur turned his attention to the priestess’s body, even as Vug did the same for the larger, sahuagin, some form of chief or baron maybe. Her hide armour was destroyed from his attack and he had no interest in the shark totems but there was a clay jar at her side that he picked up. It contained some form of weird jelly like substance and he closed it again, not wanting to poke at it here.

Vug removed the bronze armbands on the baron and hefted it’s trident thoughtfully.

Gak was now making headway on the clam, it’s soft flesh now visible in places. Checking through the rest of the sahuagin, they managed to find a couple of belt pouches that had a number of pieces of aquamarine crystals, polished and of a surprisingly good standard.

But there were no pearls here.

Vug was eying Aiden with something akin to suspicion, the dark sphere weighing on his thoughts. Gilnur looked around. There was a staircase up on the right hand side of the temple, likely to the open roof of the structure.

His guess was that whatever village had been here had been overcome by disaster at one point, natural or otherwise and the river had claimed this site, covering it ultimately in the lake. From the slight taste of brine, it was near enough to the sea that sahuagin had been able to reach this far and had appropriated this temple. Which meant they shouldn’t hang around as at some point, more would be likely to arrive.

Gak’s raging stopped and he leaned into the bloody ruins of what had recently been a clam.

  
  


“What this?” He asked, holding up a small black globe.

  
  


Gilnur smiled, shaking his head. “Good job, Gak. That’s the pearl we came for.”

  
  


“Oh. Yay me! Why we need this?” He handed the blackened pearl over, confusion on his face.

  
  


“We’ll explain on the way back. On land.” Gilnur tried to enunciate his words more to get over the water affecting their hearing. Gak still looked confused and Gilnur just pointed back the way they had come. Gak nodded and set off, and the rest followed, leaving this forgotten village behind.

The transition back to breathing air was a little disconcerting, breathing the water out around breathing in air and it was odd to feel the water in the lungs without a shortness of breath. But the companions carried on, the sticky closeness of the swamp cloying after the prolonged dip in the cooler lake.

The sun had not reached its zenith when they arrived back at Mimi’s. She was surprised to see them so quickly and looked interestedly at the pearl.

  
  


“That’s it. With all of these pieces, we have what we need to return your lady to her true form.”

  
  


“What lady?” Gak asked, Mogra and Sigurd looking equally confused.

  
  


As Aiden began to explain why he, Gilnur and Vug were here in the K’Tawl in the first place, Gilnur motioned to Mimi.

  
  


“Would I be able to purchase some arrows from you before we set off? My quiver is running a little low and shops are obviously a little sparse here.”

  
  


“That they are. I could grant you some arrows, twenty, maybe thirty.” She held up her hand as Gilnur reached for his coin pouch. “But I don’t want money for them. As you say, not many shops in this area. What have you to barter?”

Gilnur was taken aback for a moment. His thoughts went first to the gloopy paste that they had picked up at the water temple but he figured that they yet may find a use for the adhesive. Seemingly for the Keoghtom’s Ointment. Then he remembered his discovery that morning and reached for the earthenware jar.

  
  


“We did find this this morning. Mind I’m not certain what it is.”

  
  


She took it curiously and opened it a crack, peering at the contents then sniffing.

  
  


“Huh, aboleth mucus. How interesting. Allows you to breathe underwater, though you wouldn’t be able to breathe air at the same time.”

  
  


“Yours if you want it.” Gilnur said.

  
  


“It’s a good item,” Mimi replied. “But not of much value to you. Would you have a little more?”

  
  


Gilnur turned and waved at Vug who came over. “Did you keep those armbands?”

  
  


Vug looked at him curiously but reached in his own travel pack and pulled out the snaking, wavy bronze circlets. Far too wide to fit on Mimi’s arms, her eyes nevertheless lit up and she reached out, Vug handing them over.

  
  


“Ah, now these are nice work.” She turned them over, and iridescent aventurine flakes caught the light. “You have a deal. Thirty of my arrows for the jar and these.”

  
  


Gilnur nodded his thanks, not entirely certain he had made a bargain but happy in any case to fill the holes in his quiver and be able to have a spare bundle to dip into. As Aiden finished his explanations, Gilnur repacked his kit, making sure to balance everything. The rest did the same as Mimi put away her new items and picked up her own bow and quiver.

“I’m presuming we want to head straight out? Your water breathing is good until dawn tomorrow.”

  
  


There was no reason to hang around - Aiden particularly enthused by the idea of leaving the swamp. The return journey to the temple cut through the heart of the swampland in these parts and the insects had come out in force in the shadows under the midday sun, buzzing clouds remaining out of the direct light of the sun as exposed pools of swamp water shimmered, the pungent earthy smell of the swamp waters particularly noticeable.

However, it was but a couple of miles from Mimi’s secluded grove and the temple appeared before them.

Approaching the doorway, Gilnur tensed.

  
  


“Tracks,” he whispered.

  
  


It almost seemed practised as they headed in; Vug and Gak leading, Mogra and Aiden immediately behind with Sigurd and Gilnur covering. The temple though was silent.

  
  


“No-one here,” said Mogra, scanning the main hallway down. “Just bodies.”

  
  


“The bullywugs were our doing,” said Gilnur, passing him. “But that one is new.” He approached a corpse under the archway, gesturing to Vug and Aiden to check the raised side area’s, though he was inclined to agree with Mogra.

The new corpse though was an orc. The body was badly mauled, a razor sharp claw had obviously split his torso from abdomen to chest and his entrails spilled out, with a number of bite marks on his arms and upper body. The blood splatter from his wounds had splashed across a number of the tiles. Crouching down near it, Gilnur regarded the blood and worked out what had happened.

He cursed to himself, then called to Vug. “Check the waters. See if you can see Astrid.”

  
  


Vug cocked his head, but heard the urgency in Gilnur’s tone and dove into the water at the far end of the temple. Aiden followed him in.

Mogra joined Gilnur. “Doesn’t look good.”

  
  


Gilnur shook his head. “No, look, you can see boot prints. Several orcs were here with our body here. And they’ve dragged something away.”

  
  


There was a splash of water as Vug pulled himself up. “She’s not obviously here. There is a tunnel leading down but it feels like something happened here?”

  
  


“Yeah. I think the orks took her. I’m guessing they surprised her. She fought back but weight of numbers brought her down.”

  
  


“Think she’s dead?”

  
  


“No. I think they’ve claimed her for the Gathering.”

  
  


He heard Mimi behind him give a dry chuckle. “That would fit. They do collect things like her for that.”

Vug crouched down, keeping his wet fur from the body. “This would appear to be the same tribal marks as the orcs we’ve encountered recently.” He looked up at Gilnur’s direct stare. “Oh by Kord, we need to go back and talk to that dick, don’t we?”

  
  


“If you mean the orc chief you, we, dishonoured. Yes, I think it may come to that.”

  
  


“There are caverns underneath here.” Vug stood. “Gak, we are going swimming.”

  
  


Gak shrugged, already following. Gilnur headed back outside and looked closely at the tracks he had seen, Mogra accompanying him.

“Look, orc marks. Headed north and west, which I think is pretty much in the direction of where the Gathering is.”

Mogra nodded, a few steps further along. “Some form of pallet. Guess they bundled your lady on this.”

Both checking around but there was nothing more to glean from the outside. Headed back in, they found Mimi and Sigurd waiting for them.

  
  


“Your friends are checking the underwater area.” Mimi gestured behind her. “But I reckon Astrid is long gone.”

  
  


“Maybe two days ago,” Mogra replied, “judging from the tracks outside.”

  
  


“And the state of the body inside,” Gilnur added, quietly fuming. They had come so close. But whilst they had been trekking through the swamp dragging a snake head, the orcs had carried off their prize.

It was a few moments more before the others surfaced, shaking their heads.

  
  


“Then we head off after them. Trail looks clear. If we push through, we may be able to catch them before they reach the gathering. It’ll be close though.”

  
  


“Then let’s get going,” Vug replied.

Mimi remained at the temple, to secure various parts of the ritual 

  
  


The trail to start with was clear, the prints of the orcs around the flattened earth of the pallet they were dragging with them, presumably with Astrid upon. Mogra, trained to pursue the wanted, had sharp eyes. And both Gilnur and Aiden had spent a bit of time hunting down the war bands roaming the Dividing Plains. 

Again, there was a sense of gelling, of people settling into roles. Vug set the pace, listening to the others calling out the direction of the orcs.

Travelling through the swamp presented its own challenges. The air was humid and everything was wet, despite the heat. Trudging through the dank pools, they were aware of the wildlife around them from the buzzing midges to the scaly shapes sliding through the ooze. Bhumb knew this area well and kept them from heading towards large animal dens or patches of sucking mud. Gak had a lifetime of moving so had almost instinctive knowledge of where to find an easier path, even if he struggled to articulate it at times. And despite his slightly bulky frame, Sigurd proved their equal in the pace set. 

As the sun finally sank low in the sky, the companions made camp on one of the dry earthern mounds that crisscrossed the K’Tawl. The estimation was that they were making up ground on the orc party blazing a trial before them - the pallet requiring some longer detours that the party could circumvent.

Taking the first watch, Gilnur regarded the party. He hadn’t yet had any chance to speak with Vug properly on Aiden, but he knew it was coming. Mogra took his turn after Gilnur and the dragonborn spent a long moment debating whether or not to remove his armour. He decided that he’d worn the armour enough in this climate to be able to rest enough, and saw that Vug had made the same call.

Gak, on the dawn watch, roused them early and Gilnur felt weary, but rested enough. They set off.

The pace was hard work, more so as the sun rose and the heat grew around them. The creepers from the cypress trees around them grew longer, cutting the visibility down. Bhumb still seemed happy, though even the naturally ebullient bullywug was doing less of his usual scampering. 

  
  


“How far ahead do you reckon?” Vug asked at one point, the sudden question breaking the silence the party had been toiling in.

  
  


Mogra squinted ahead, hoping to see something through the gnarled trunks before them.

  
  


“I think we are gaining on them a little. A little more than a day - if we keep this up maybe a little less than a day by the time we make camp.”

  
  


“And how far to this Gathering?” There was a note of disdain to Vug’s voice. Mogra looked over to Gilnur.

  
  


“We’re cutting across the routes that we’ve travelled in this area. I’m guessing six to eight days total from temple to where the Gathering is.” 

  
  


Mogra looked over. “So we catch up before the Gathering, ideally?”

  
  


Gilnur nodded. “Right. We may be able to take Astrid from under them. Or, this group may not know of what occurred at the Gathering and we may be able to work out some trade with them to get her back without fighting.” He knew without looking that Aiden wasn’t keen on that idea. “If it comes to it, we should be able to deal with them.”

  
  


“Does that mean Gak gets to hit things?”

  
  


“It probably does, yes.”

  
  


“Then no talking. We move.”

  
  


The rest of the day was the same forced push through the vegetation, pushing along the trail the orcs were leaving behind them. The ground was growing damper in this section of the swamp and the traces were a little harder to find - but the pallet remained an obvious point of reference and they were able to keep the pace up.

That evening, with a camp set up on another of the earthy mounds that at least meant they were sleeping in a pool of water - other than Bhumb who happily nestled into a reed bed, Gilnur relinquished the watch happily. He knew that he could maintain the pace as long as needed, but he would already welcome a dry bed and a little time out of the plate armour. Sleep wasn’t long coming.

***

  
  
_ The city was burning. _

_ As the dark shapes swirled in the night sky above them, the air was filled with shrieks of pain, flashes of twisted light casting shadows of suffering on the twisted landscape. _

_ He was running, just running, a primal need to get away. _

_ “Gilnur!” A voice shouted but he couldn’t see who was calling him. He stumbled as the nearby building exploded in a massive gout of frost, ice shards spiralling away. Scrambling back to his feet, he turned to the side, trying not to be in the open, his mind refusing to process. _

_ Shouts ahead of him and he saw a squad running forward, weapons drawn. _

_ He headed towards them _

_ “Gilnur!” _

_ The voice again. It sounded human. That wasn’t right, he didn’t know any humans. With a deep roar, a tumult of wind pinned him against a cracked wall as something large swept through the night air above him. Somehow he was not seen and he struggled onwards, no idea where to go but just the thought of ‘away’. _

_ He almost fell into the next street, scraping palms and knees that were already bloody. He knew what was coming. He wanted to stay looking at the street but, as always, he lifted his head. He saw the soldiers poised in that instant, everlong, second. _

_ Then the acid. _

_ His own stomach acids rebelled as he watched horrified, and his instinct to retch mercifully pulling his gaze away. Though the sound echoed through his head long after the end. _

_ The ground shook as  _ it _ landed; checking, chuckling, revelling. _

_ As he gasped for breath, he was aware of the black scales, even in the smoke that filled the air and knew, as always,  _ it _ was turning  _ its  _ head. _

_ Towards him. _

_ “GILNUR!” _


	12. Intentions in the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gilnur awakes from one nightmare to enter another, one that he can't awaken from

His eyes snapped open.

Disconcerted to hear the wet crunching from his dream, he saw the faces of Vug and Gak look behind him in dismay, Aiden’s face flat as they noticed the sight behind Gilnur. He turned, instinctively reaching for the bow.

“No,” he murmured.

Not thirty feet in the shallow swamp water in the pool where they had made camp was a black dragon. It bit down and with a grisly snap, Gilnur saw part of a humanoid body splash into the water as another part was swallowed. The dragon roared and turned to them.

Gilnur froze for one long eternal second, unable to determine whether this was a dream or reality. But his dreams had never featured Sigurd rendered into meaty chunks. And Aiden didn’t normally feature in them, charging into close range, sword swinging round for a blow.

The writhing shadows from his longsword reached for the black scales of the beast before them, beast and blade alike merging into the darkness of the swamp with the low flicker of the campfire playing across their surface, like tortured souls screaming for release.

The bloody ichor from Aiden’s strike disappeared into the murk..

Gilnur heard the rasping intake of breath and stood, reaching desperately for his companions - 

Too late.

The dragon exhaled and a steam of acidic energy belched out towards the others. Aiden, up close, ducked to one side, wincing as the energy grazed his back but returning his attention to the nightmare vision before him.

Still getting up and drawing their weapons, Vug and Gak were right in the blast.

But this was a young dragon and the acidic breath that was the dark counterpoint to Gilnur’s own draconic legacy was not at full potency. Vug’s plate armour took the brunt of the impact. It held and, while both were staggered as the acid seared across them, they were standing. 

Gak recovered quicker and let out a cry of rage. As the dragon snapped at Aiden, the goliath swung into the creature's flank, several scales crushed under the force of the blow. He stabbed with the sword, cutting into it where he had broken through the creature's natural armour.

Gilnur took aim. Cursing out loud in Draconic.

“May you rot in the Abyss, beast!” His first arrow plinked off the armoured shoulder of the dragon, his second going wide. He cursed again and the dragon looked over to him. And smirked.

The smirk dropped as Vug’s halberd swung into its neck; a detonation of radiant energy flashing through the darkness as the bugbear blessed the strike to Kord. The dragon snapped at him then roared in pain again as Aiden sliced down it’s other flank. He too caused a detonation of energy to smite the dragon but in stark contrast to Vug’s holy power, this was a black gash, sickly grey tendrils almost rotting the scales where it hit.

Vug called to his god again and a spectral halberd appeared above the dragon as Gilnur’s third arrow scraped against one of the horns that curved down either side of the creature’s snout. It snapped at Gak who parried it away.

Fighting the urge to run away, Gilnur paused in his non-stop cursing to try to focus his mind. He watched the claws swipe down towards Aiden and released the arrow. It sank into the soft tissue where one wing joined the body. He tried psionically to push it deeper but the dragon’s natural resistance fought him. Resuming his cursing, he channeled and the brambles erupted out across the scales. 

It whipped it’s head around to him, snarling, then Gak leapt and brought the flat of his blade down on the creature’s head, and it glazed over for a moment. As Gilnur nocked another arrow, Aiden readied a stance. Gilnur briefly paused wondering why he wasn’t attacking then noticed Vug had released his halberd and was pulling out the maul that he carried but Gilnur hadn’t seen him use yet in action.

The bugbear swung the heavy weapon and smacked the dragon on the side of its face. It looked at him blankly for a moment until he reversed the swing and bought the head of his weapon straight down and the dragon collapsed into the damp mud.

Gilnur saw its chest breathe in and out and realised that it was only out cold. Snarling, he dropped the bow and pulled out the great-axe. He had used it to good effect on the giant snake a few days ago and it would do well to separate the beasts head from it’s body.

  
  


“Gilnur stop!” Vug was before him. Blocking his way.

  
  


“Move.” Gilnur tried to push his way but Vug, even weakened by the dragon’s attack, held his ground.

“We aren’t killing it.”

  
  


“Speak for yourself.”

  
  


“We need it.”

  
  


“The hells we do. Get out of the way, Vug.”

  
  


“We take it with us. Trade with the orcs for Astrid. A dragon would be far better sport at their Gathering than a humanoid.”

  
  


“You can’t be serious.” Even as he snapped, he saw both Gak and Aiden watching him, obviously in agreement with Vug. Gak indeed was pulling out a coil of rope with the obvious intention of trussing it up.

  
  


His fingers tightened on the axe but Vug held his gaze firmly.

  
  


“Fine! But I’m not helping you carry it.”

  
  


“Gak can manage. Hairy man would make it easier but Gak can manage.” The goliath already sounded cheerful at the thought of carrying the dragon through the soggy terrain that surrounded them.

  
  


“Look at it this way,” Aiden said. “The orcs have their captive on a pallet so if we bring this with us, we know the way should be clear enough to drag it along.” He looked back at Vug, now moved over to the dragon to help Gak ensure the dragon was properly tied. “I don’t know what makes you think that a dragon we took down this easier would be of interest to them.”

  
  


Vug ignored the dismissive tone as he threw the rope back to Gak over the dragon. “I’m sure they are used to monsters coming in in a poor condition.” A thought crossed his mind. “We should have taken some of the knockout poison from the orcs who had captured the T-Rex. Ah well.”

“S’okay. Gak can just hit dragon when it wakes up.” 

  
  


The bugbear shrugged. “Guess that will work.” He looked critically at the dragon and rested a hand on it’s flank. A very brief flash of divine energy stopped the bleeding from it’s wounds though they remained vivid slashes against it’s dark scales.

Gilnur growled and headed past them, hunting for the missed arrows. He concentrated on his breathing, trying to stay calm, possibly a vain hope with the maelstrom of emotions raging through him right now.

After a few minutes wading through the water, Bhumb materialised out of the darkness, holding two of the arrows which he wordlessly handed over.

  
  


“Thanks.” Gilnur replied gruffly and turned to leave. He paused and looked back. Bhumb was staring at him, wide eyes reflecting the low fire.

  
  


“Thought you had stayed back at the temple. Stay close, okay?” Gilnur mentioned to him. “Things are likely to get worse before they get better.”

  
  


“You lose friends?” The small bullywug asked.

  
  


That was the point Gilnur realised he hadn’t seen Mogra. Gesturing for Bhumb to follow, he headed back to the camp. Aiden was curled up on one side of the fire as Vug and Gak regarded the unconscious dragon, checking, and double checking the knots binding the dragon.

  
  


“Hey Gilnur. Do you use your nostrils for your acid breath thing?”

  
  


“Only if I cough at the wrong time.”

  
  


“Good.”

  
  


“Have you seen Mogra?”

  
  


“No, but …” Vug didn’t finish, just lifted up something next to his feet. It was the sentinel shield that Mogra had been given from Old Zac. Mogra’s hand and arm still dangling from the straps.

Gilnur closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head slowly. He then turned and looked at Bhumb. “I suggest you sleep in the pool on the opposite side tonight. And I wouldn’t blame you for heading back to Mimi’s tomorrow.”

Bhumb stared at the trussed up dragon then scurried past their camp and into the darkness beyond. 

  
  


“We need to get out of this swamp.”

  
  


Vug looked over at him. “No arguments here.”

  
  


Gilnur sighed, then turned and slowly walked over to what remained of the torso of Sigurd.

They hadn’t even even had much chance to get to know this person. He had been contacted out of the blue by Zac to aid them and for whatever reason had remained in the swamp. It shocked Gilnur a little to realise it had been a week since the slightly rotund half-elf had appeared in their group. Though he had appeared overweight, he had been able to keep the pace and he had stepped into the role that Seth had been filling fairly easily. All Gilnur really knew of him, was that Sigurd had a thirst for knowledge. And his strange thesis of negotiations that didn’t require more knowledge of language than of Common. Whatever he had been pursuing there was now in pieces. Quite literally, looking at what remained of him.

Mogra had been the same. Another unexpected addition who had actually slotted in well. What his lawful temperament would have made of them once they got to towns would have been another issue, of course. And his ingrained distrust of arcane magic meant that he viewed Aiden with a little suspicion. Not that he was the only one; Gilnur looked back at Vug with that thought. But Mogra had been surprisingly cheerful given his circumstances, content to assist them in the swamp for a least the short term.

Then he knelt into the swamp water and, with a grimace, reached for the very dead wizards belongings. Focussing on the pouches and satchels that encircled the waist, Gilnur was momentarily intrigued to find that the wizard had a pretty good wax lining on his book pouch. Opening it up, the paperwork within was holding up well despite the humid conditions. There was parchment and ink, and what Gilnur took to be the spellbook - at least the unintelligible runes appeared to be arcane in design. A second book was a slender volume on the K’Tawl Swamp, focussed on the various flora and fauna of the region with a cursory look at the various humanoid races that had a base here and a potted history that covered a few centuries. Gilnur put them all back in the satchel and found the lore book wouldn’t go in properly. There was a rolled up sheet of parchment which he unrolled.

It was covered in what looked to be just a freehand scrawl - but it reminded him of the spell scroll that had been used to bring Zac back from the dead. He didn’t in any way know what the spell was, or if it was a spell indeed but that’s what he presumed and he resealed the main pouch. In fact, hadn’t Old Zac provided them with it after they had brought the giant coral snake back?

  
  


“Is there a spell book in there?” Vug asked curiously, looking over the sentinel shield which now did not have any part of Mogra attached to it. “We could sell that for a bit of money. You okay to hold onto it? I may add this shield to my arsenal, seeing as how you already have one.”

  
  


Gilnur just nodded, settling the lightweight satchel underneath his own travel pack. He caught sight of the shredded flesh at the top of the torso and blanched a little, forcing his eyes not to wander. Sigurds coin purse had only a few gold pieces. Gilnur transferred the money across, reasoning that it wouldn’t help Sigurd now. There was a letter in there also. Skimming the letterhead, it made mention of Kraghammer. Possibly naming the organisation that he had been involved with? It meant nothing to the dragonborn and he left it. Sigurd’s pack was largely full of smithing tools. Gilnur frowned. Those weren’t really of any help without a forge to use them in. And the rest of his adventuring kit was obviously borrowed.

He stood and swifty turned, leaving the remains.

  
  


“Anything of interest?” Vug asked, the shield now on his arm as he tested the weight.

  
  


“Books, paper, tools.”

  
  


“So no then.”

  
  


Gilnur continued past him and moved his bedroll as far from the dragon as he dared and still be in the glow of the fire.

Sleep was fitful that night but at least it came and the nightmare of having an actual black dragon just feet away from him meant no other nightmares disturbed his slumber, other than the occasional thunk as Gak kept the dragon unconscious.

It remained overcast as the sky finally lightened - though there was no change to the temperature in the humid clime. It felt a little odd as Gilnur realised that they had missed Harvest’s Close and the start of autumn; indeed that festival would have been after Astrid’s scheduled wedding in Drynna. 

They had spent it instead trekking through the swamp looking for dinosaur bones.

That realisation didn’t in any way raise his already low spirits.

He watched alongside Aiden as Vug and Gak dragged a fallen tree over to the dragon. Picking up a coil of rope from Mogra’s abandoned pack, itself hastily put together by Tim at the wizards tower, they used that to attach the dragon to the tree, straining to get it’s still comatose body onto it as best they could then using the remainder of the rope to create loops to use as slings across themselves to aid in taking the weight.

Gilnur led them onwards, missing Mogra’s keen eye. The tracks from the orcs appeared to continue straight on though, and with a couple of days trailing the raiding party, he was able to distinguish the marks reasonably well.

The two large members of the group followed, dragging their living load and Aiden brought up the rear of the party, watching around them.

As the day dragged on, Gilnur had to admit that Vug and Gak were actually doing pretty well. By following the path of the orcs, they were able to set the log into the grooves left from the pallet where the groves were visible and were even able to lift it where needed. The vision of a goliath and a bugbear hauling a black dragon was, for sure, a sight to behold.

  
  


“Hey, is that Bhumb following us?” Aiden called at one point. 

  
  


Gilnur returned the simple call sign for ‘yes’ as he scoured the ground before him, trying to decide which path around a particularly knotty clump of cypress would be easier for them to traverse.

It was as Vug and Gak hefted the dragon across a deeper pool that he caught sight of Bhumb - the little bullywug was not his normal exuberant self and travelled a little distance from them, noticeably worried by their captured monster. The dragon itself didn’t seem to react much; the insects buzzed noisily at the wounds on its flank and head and it was obvious that the wounds were filled with muck from the swamp.

Not that it’s plight affected Gilnur, the names of Mogra and Sigurd added to an already long list.

As the overcast sky darkened towards the end of the day, it actually brought a slight chill. Gilnur realised that it wasn’t cold - just that the swamp was finally no longer retaining the muggy humid air quite as well as it had been doing the last few weeks.

From what he could tell of the signs of the orcs they hunted, they had made no ground on them today. Though Gilnur did think this was more to the particularly boggy terrain they had struggled through than the sudden extra load they were bringing with them.

As they dragged the beast along one of the drier ridges towards a spot raised above the nearby pools of water, Gilnur shook his head. The buzzing of the insects around the dragon had been constant through the day. His concentration on stalking the orcs, and the sloshing as they waded through murky pools had obscured it to some extent but now that they were on one of the raised ridges which criss-crossed the swamp, or at least this part of it, the buzzing was louder.

He stepped aside as the log was dragged to one side, and Vug and Gak finally were able to throw off the slings, stretching tired joints, and looked around for Bhumb.

For a moment, he stared at the reeds, gnarled roots and decaying moss, unable to see their little shadow. Just as he was getting worried, he caught sight of Bhumb. He was almost totally submerged and Gilnur stepped across the ridge, Aiden standing next to him as Gak stomped noisily on the other side. 

Narrowing his eyes, he focussed on Bhumb and just saw the eyes wide in panic, a webbed finger pointing. Towards them. Gilnur had seen Bhumb enough and that reaction to know what this meant.

  
  


“Trouble.” He called, whirling around. Grabbing his bow he scanned around them. Vug stood by the dragon and Gak stopped. Gilnur couldn’t see anything and the buzzing of the insects meant that he couldn’t hear any splashes.

Wait, the buzzing … more like … chittering.

He looked down.

The damp earth, covered in moss, and with numerous long leafed grasses covered the long low ridge on which they stood. And as he looked, he realised the ground was _moving,_ _heaving_ with numerous tiny bodies as many isopods swarmed up out of the pools either side of them, though these isopods were several inches in length, their segmented carapaces rasping as they scuttled towards them.

“Bugs!” He called. “Lots of bugs!”

Gak’s joyful laughter filled the air as combat was joined and he swept his greatsword down, pieces of broken chitin and spindly legs flying into the air.

  
  


“By Kord, they are everywhere!” 

  
  


Gilnur turned to see Vug look along the direction they were headed in, more clumps of the isopods converging on him and the still dragon. He switched his aim and fired a shot past the bugbear, aiming low. It scraped along the ground some feet beyond Vug and Gilnur channeled, causing a blast of arcane energy to erupt from the fallen arrow. The soggy ground seemed to dull the detonation a little and more isopods swiftly swarmed into the gap, scurrying forward, mandibles clacking.

Hearing the susurration of bodies behind him he looked back and let fly an arrow at close range; already cursing himself for the wasted shot.

Aiden was sweeping the blade around, the dark energy on the blade killing many of the swarming isopods but suddenly realising he was surrounded by a writhing mass.

  
  


“They’re on the dragon!” Vug called, sweeping the halberd across the black scales, even as more of the tiny creatures began to climb his legs. Gilnur stepped back and bumped against an old tree stump.

It split with a wet crack and another swarm of the isopods burst from the rotten wood. He felt sharp legs catching under his scales and he cried out as he found himself beset, numerous creatures biting and picking at him; could feel them latching on and drawing blood.

Frantically grasping at the tiny creatures that were latched onto him, he could feel the ripping as their mandibles tore bloody holes. The bow lay discarded at his feet and he grasped for one of the short swords at his belt, carving through the onrushing crawlers.

He could see Gak sweeping broken bodies into the air then using the sheer weight of his great weapon to crush into several of the isopods crawling up his legs.

A swirl of grey mist caught his attention and he turned to see that Aiden had vanished, leaving a few of the chittering isopods to fall to the ground. There were a pair of magical blasts from behind him and Gilnur guessed that Aiden had somehow teleported himself.

As he pulled another isopod from his thigh, he saw Vug whirling his halberd across the top of the dragon. The isopods had congregated on the festering wounds and the bugbear was desperately trying to remove them from the bound dragon, ignoring the creatures that were now swarming across him. The cleaving axe head left many with damaged legs, helpless on the ground but more, merely pushed away by the swing, clambered back up the scales towards the exposed flesh.

Gilnur hissed as more of the tiny mandibles clamped onto him. For one wild moment, he envisioned himself using his own acidic breath attack on the numerous isopods but there was nowhere that wouldn't now catch at least one of his party.

The laughing grew louder and Gak was by him now, skilfully using the flat of his sword to crush the bugs against Gilnur’s plate or sweep them away. It cleared him enough to draw the other shortsword, though an errant swing from Gak made him stumble and one of his cuts embedded the blade into the remains of the stump. It was held for a moment until he could wrench it out, focussing his psionic power to sweep it through a leaping isopod as he did so.

He was buffeted again and saw Aiden was now directing his arcing sword blasts towards them, the energy churning up the ground around him and Gak. Gilnur stepped into the clear area, headed towards Vug who was still trying to protect the dragon; Gilnur privately thought that it may already be too late for the dragon now.

The paladin’s spectral halberd appeared and cut down onto a clump of the segmented beasts even as he stabbed into another, releasing a detonation of divine power and causing a small shower of chitin, ichor and sharp legs around them all.

The numbers of the bugs was diminished now and suddenly Gilnur was aware that only a few were left upon him. He swept both swords down to clear away the last few upon him. Stepping forward, and making sure to crunch a couple under foot, he slashed down Vugs right side.

Gak followed him and smushed more on Vugs’ left side as the bugbear cleared the dragon at last. A blast of actinic grey energy flashed right through his legs as Aiden carefully aimed low, his blasts of eldritch power blasting into the fallen bodies of the isopods before they could right themselves.

There was a round of stomping and slammed weapons to the floor then the four stood ready. The chittering had gone and even the buzzing of the insects that had plagued them all down was barely audible, just one or two long flies.

Vug grunted and spun, resting a hand on the dragon. His hand lit up with the healing power that his god had granted him. But it did not spread into the dragon.

  
  


“Fuck!” He said, looking at the now dead dragon, the shock from the sudden assault on it’s wounds just too much to take after the lack of recovery from the battle the night before.

  
  


“Shame.” Gilnur said tonelessly, turning from it and hefting broken bodies back into the water around them.

Vug glared at him. “We needed that to trade with the orcs for Astrid!”

  
  


Gilnur ignored him and Vug snarling, looking back at the dead dragon in annoyance.

  
  


Gak stepped up next to him. “Dis mean Gak can take a horn now?”

  
  


“Sure!” The Bugbear snapped. “Take both.”

  
  


He watched Gak pry at the horn, his tongue sticking out his mouth as he concentrated on his task.

“Well, we know the bugs will deal with the body. The scales are probably also worth something, maybe make some armour.” He looked at Gilnur. “That interest you?”

  
  


“No.”

  
  


Vug waved him off and started to pry off scales. Gilnur tended to the fire and sat slowly on a spot of clear ground. He could feel a number of small wounds aching as his natural healing slowly kicked in. Some measure of healing magic would have been welcomed at this point but Vug was intent on his task, and no-one else here had the magical knowledge to advance healing.

As Vug and Gak continued their grisly task, Gilnur could find no sympathy for the beast they were picking clean. He had no idea how many luckless souls had met their end at the claws of this creature and no idea how many countless more would never have to encounter this threat, now that it was deceased. He supposed that somewhere in the distant past, there was some common legacy between himself and the black dragon that lay lifeless before him. But that would be physical only and the gulf between them was insurmountable.

Other than recovering and cleaning his weapons, he did not take part in the scavenging. Vug was probably right and Gilnur was pretty certain that armour made of dragon scales would be beneficial. But this whole time in the swamp was now wearing him down and he was fighting down memories he did not want to face.

The bonds on the dragon were released and Gak shoved it onto its side, killing a single last isopod that had been nestled in a wound. He moved around to the now open snout and pried the jaws open, obviously looking to take some fangs as trophies.

With Vug moving down the body to work on scales that were already loose, the chest of the once mighty beast was exposed and Aiden stepped up and plunged his sword into the chest, sawing at the tendons and muscle.

And he was another problem, Gilnur thought. A month ago, Gilnur had believed him dead, him and the Greenwatch all, after he’d come across what remained of Lakeview. Then Aiden had just appeared in Stilben, apparently alive and now armed with a sword of dark shadow. That he had received such a weapon in the circumstances he had talked about was a little cause for concern but he wouldn’t have been the only survivor of a bloody conflict to wake up after the fact. And the appearance was never an issue.

This was a group that had started with dragonborn, bugbear and tiefling members after all - almost all of them had known better than to make presumptions based on appearance alone.

It was the change to Aiden’s demeanour and personality that was giving cause for Gilnur to worry. No longer the noble and courageous man that had dedicated his life to the defense of the people around him, he was now bloodthirsty and largely uncaring and the switch was far more jarring to Gilnur than a blade that allowed Aiden to see in the dark or magically disappear and reappear.

Indeed up to their conversation in the swamp a week or two ago, Gilnur had been of the impression that Aiden was struggling with survivor’s guilt, a fight Gilnur knew all too well. But when he mentioned the name of a Betrayer God, then everything changed. Gilnur knew that Vug wanted the sword gone and he couldn’t blame him. He knew little of the Strife Emperor but he knew that he was the god of conquest, with many of the more war focussed peoples of Exandria worshipping him, supporting the key tenet of subjugation. That this was the name Aiden was hearing was bad; that he hadn’t thrown away the sword himself was worse still.

The sword had left a mark in Aiden’s psyche and for him to be saved, it needed to be separated from him. Vug would likely take it forcefully but Gilnur hoped that Aiden would choose to relinquish the blade before it embedded itself too much. In the back of his mind, he was afraid that it was already too late. But there were still flashes of the good man he had been, who had tracked a pursued dragonborn down to ensure his safety.

As he sat, brooding, the other three tore into the dragon’s corpse. Aiden ignored the blood that now covered him and, struggling a little, wrenched the creature's heart from the chest.

  
  


“That’s a big trophy,” Gak mentioned as he sat on the wet earth trying to count how many dragon fangs he could take from the dragon's mouth.

  
  


Aiden ignored him and straightened a moment, looking at the bloody body part he held, seemingly unaware of Vug straightening also behind him. Aiden carried the heart across to a spot nearer the fire and placed it on the ground before retrieving the sword.

Gilnur looked over.

_ Oh Aiden, please no _

Aiden took a breathe then reached with his empty hand and began to drag out a symbol in the damp earth.

Vug stepped closer

_ Don’t do this _

The symbol was crude in the ground but the intent of a flail, made of chains was clear.

  
  


“What is this?” Vug cried, staring in horror at the symbol Aiden was creating

  
  


_ Not like this _

  
  


Aiden ignored him and continued scribing his fingers through the dirt. Vug snarled and stepped over. He dragged the butt of his halberd through the symbol.

  
  


“That symbol! Why would you make it?”

  
  


“Just looking to ask for faster passage through the swamp.”

  
  


“From one of the Betrayer Gods! By Kord, you go too far Aiden.”

  
  


“Do I?” He rose in one swift motion, eyes fixed on the bugbear before him. “Let me finish the ritual.” He turned back and leant down. Vug shoved him.

  
  


“That’s blasphemy, Aiden. You need to stop what you are doing!”

  
  


“You can’t stop me.” He reached out again and his fingers began to create the image again when a clawed foot left drag marks through his marks. He looked up furious.

Gilnur stood above him, face devoid of emotion. The great axe was held ready in his hand.

“That’s enough, Aiden.” He said quietly. “I have no faith in the gods. But even I would not go so far as to call for aid from one of the Betrayer Gods.”

  
  


“The clue’s in their name!” Vug exclaimed, beside himself.

  
  


Aiden rose again, his face dark. “It’s not blasphemy if you believe. And I don’t see your god stepping in to get us out from this swamp.”

  
  


“All we need do is to catch up with the orcs and retrieve Astrid.”  _ Please don’t make us do this. _ “We don’t need to call on dark powers for that.”

  
  


“What is this Gilnur?” The human before him glared at him. Gilnur paused a moment, desperately looking for any sign of his friend, of the man he had known. He did not see any. He remembered Aiden’s quiet plea for help.

  
  


“You asked me recently to keep an eye on you. This is me doing that. You need to relinquish the sword. Before it takes you too far gone to be saved.”

  
  


“Relinquish the sword? My friend, how do you think I have all these abilities? How can I be of any use without the power this sword provides me.” He gestured and vanished. There was no grey smoke, he just wasn’t there for a moment. Then he appeared at a spot ten foot from where he had vanished. “I couldn’t do that without the sword. I wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for this sword.”

  
  


“You don’t know that.”

  
  


“Ha! I woke up in a field of the dead clutching this sword. It brought me back.”

  
  


Vug shifted to the side, halberd at a ready position. “That may be what it wants you to think.”

  
  


“How could you possibly infer that? Ask Gilnur the circumstances of how I obtained this weapon. It is the only way I could have survived.”

  
  


“But you don’t know the circumstances,” Gilnur urged, trying to see any sign of the Aiden that had rescued him a year before.  _ You need to give up the sword, Aiden!  _ “Drop the sword, Aiden. You are a good man. You don’t need that weapon to do good things.”

Aiden’s face twisted again into a mocking sneer. He vanished again for a moment and Vug and Gilnur looked around nervously for a few, long seconds before he materialised again, just five foot from his last position.

“Without this sword, I am nothing. I would be dead. I have nothing but this sword.”

  
  


The words jumbled up in his head. Gilnur flashed on all of the villages and hamlets spread across the Dividing Plains that he had passed on his trek to Stilben, all alive thanks to the efforts of the Greenwatch that Aiden had started. He thought of all the citizens of the Plains inspired to defend their way of lives against the tribes of Ravagers because of the example of Aiden. 

  
  


“You created the Greenwatch without this sword. You stepped up to defend those around you how could not defend themselves. You provided an example for the people of Lakeview.”  _ You saved a dragonborn who believed he was beyond redemption _

  
  


Aiden scoffed. “And all gone. The Greenwatch dead. Lakeview destroyed.”

  
  


“I saw Lakeview!” Gilnur yelled, frantic as he saw his words apparently falling on deaf ears.”The axes at my belt are all that survived. But that doesn’t take away from what you did, the reputation you built.”

  
  


Vug lunged with his hand at that point, trying to knock the sword from Aiden’s grasp. The human easily dodged back, his face taut with anger. 

Gilnur had a feeling that Aiden was trying to do something; like perhaps a power that he couldn’t quite grasp, that remained just elusive. Was the Aiden he knew in there somewhere?

  
  


“You need to drop the sword, Aiden.” Gilnur said urgently, sure that forcing him would not work. They needed him to accept that he needed help, to take the first step back to them. 

“What happened to Lakeview was terrible. But this will not bring it back and it’s not what we need right now.”  _ Mogra and Sigurd’s memories deserve more than this. The people of Lakeview deserve more than this. _

  
  


“Drop the sword,” Vug intoned, clearly poised to attack. Gilnur gestured at him to stand down but the bugbear's gaze was fixed onto Aiden.

  
  


“No.” Aiden replied simply. “I need the power. We all need the power. I’m nothing without the sword, without the powers it lets me use.” 

There was a moment of stillness.

Then Aiden grimaced and the sword raised, lunging towards Vug in one swift motion. The bugbear was expecting the attack and he let the sword scrape harmlessly against a pauldron. He smashed his own weapon into Aiden’s side and called again on his god. The swamp was lit up for one instant as trails of lightning played over Aiden’s body, though not the sword.

He staggered back but before he could make another move, Gilnur barreled into him, grabbing him.

“Stop, both of you. Not like this.” He kept his back to Vug and stared straight at Aiden. “Release the sword, Aiden. You must give it up.”

For all the creatures and lifeforms that Gilnur had encountered in the last month or so, nothing was quite as chilling as looking at Aiden and seeing a smirk. Indeed, it was one of the more chilling sights he had seen.

  
  


“You want me to drop the sword. Sure.” Though grappled by Gilnur, he was able to toss the weapon to the ground before him. Casually. As if he had always meant to do so.

Vug stood on the balls of his feet for a moment then crouched, his gaze never shifting from Aiden and touched the sword. It was real. He grabbed it and stood, nodding once as an acknowledgement of thanks. Then turned and moved over to his pack to find something to wrap it in.

Aiden remained still, his eyes not leaving the sword.

_ Thank you _

Gilnur released his hold; opening his mouth to speak, to talk to his friend, to determine what to do next.

  
  


“Easy to get it back,” Aiden said off-handedly. It caught Gilnur off guard for just a moment. Aiden pushed off suddenly, dashing past Gilnur who couldn’t turn in time.

_ No no NO _

The sword just blinked away from Vug as he held it; before he could turn, it was back in Aiden’s hand, as if it had never left and he raised the sword in both hands before bringing it down sharply on to Vug. The impact itself would have been enough to stagger Vug but as it hit, Aiden uttered a single word and a burst of cold grey energy exploded out, a twisted parody of Vug’s own divine smite.

Vug collapsed and lay still. Gilnur saw blood oozing out into the churned earth

  
  


“Aiden! By the hells, what are you doing?” 

  
  


He fought the instinct to run away, fought the instinct to strike at Aiden and instead turned to grab his pack and the healer’s kit that he had within, purchased right before he had left Stilben. As he knelt next to Vug and pulled the kit open, pulling out the medical supplies within, he looked back at Aiden, whose gaze hadn’t left him, and who still had the weapon drawn and ready.

  
  


“I’ve been where you are, Aiden. This is not the way.”

  
  


He turned from the human and concentrated fully on Vug’s wounds, grabbing out a salve for the various wounds the bugbear had suffered this evening. Gilnur was a little shaken to realise that he was expecting to feel the sword bite into him.

THUNK!

He started and looked up. Gak nodded as he regarded the now beheaded dragon, flicking the blood from the blade of his axe. The goliath saw the dragonborn staring at him.

  
  


“Gak decide rather than fangs, he’ll take head. Make hat.”

  
  


The goliath pulled up the head in one easy swipe and moved over to a nearby pool, leaving Gilnur staring bemusedly at the space where a dragon head had been for a moment. Then he shook himself and went back to Vug. From the corner of his eye, he saw Aiden approach the dragon heart again.

  
  


“Finally get this damned ritual to work,” Aiden muttered as he again began to draw in the ground around the heart. With the symbol hurriedly drawn, he dug a circle around the heart.

To find Gilnur again raking through Bane’s symbol with his clawed feet, great axe again in hand.

  
  


“No.” Gilnur said softly. 

  
  


He made no move as Aiden clenched his teeth, knuckles whitening on the hilt of the sword. But he also did not back down.

Aiden cried out in a wordless scream of rage and stabbed down with the sword, plunging it straight through the heart and deep into the ground below.

  
  


“There! Can I do that?” 

  
  


He walked from the sword which quivered as it remained upright for a moment then almost dismissively Aiden clicked his fingers and the sword was again in his grasp. He did not look over to Vug but very deliberately sat down some distance from him.

Gilnur didn’t speak but walked back equidistant between them and called for Gak to bring some logs over. The goliath grumbled but easily snapped several from the now unneeded tree they had carried through the swamp today and dropped them in front of Gilnur.

Gilnur nodded a thanks then, leaning forwards, called upon the limited arcane power he had been taught and lit one of the logs. He busied himself setting up a fire as the sun sank below the horizon and the light grew dusky, fading as the night came on. He was aware of Aiden’s eyes following him but did not meet his gaze.

Gak had, by the splashing, left the dragon head submerged in the nearest pool of water.

  
  


“For fishies to eat meat,” he said as he returned. Gilnur kept his gaze on the fire, though that wasn’t what he was seeing. In his mind's eye, it wasn’t logs he saw burning in the smoky flames.

  
  


It may have only been a short while later when Gak attracted his attention, pulling him up and over to a spot near the now-forgotten dragon heart.

  
  


“What you think?” He waved proudly and Gilnur looked down in the low light to see, well he wasn’t certain. Possibly an octopus, wearing a crown, holding a weasel. “Saw Aiden’s drawing. Do my own.”

  
  


Gilnur glanced across to the heart, saw the not quite obscured symbol of the Strife Emperor, looked up at Gak. And saw the honest request for approval. Despite himself, despite the encounter, Gilnur felt one corner of his mouth rise up in something that approximated a smile.

  
  


“It’s a good job, Gak,” he said. “Maybe a little more colour next time?”

  
  


Gak looked appraisingly at the crude marks he had down, brow furrowed as if an artist critiquing his own work. “You right. A little more red.”

Gilnur looked over to Aiden to see he was wrapped in his bedroll.

  
  


“That fight didn’t worry you?” He asked Gak.

  
  


“Nope. Small beasties easier to hit in large numbers.”

  
  


“I meant the fight between Vug and Aiden.”

  
  


“Nope. Seen worse in my herd growing up.” He shrugged, his attention still on what he considered to be his artwork.

Gilnur hoped desperately that Gak was right. He patted the goliath on the back.

  
  


“Rest up, Gak. I’ll wake you for your watch.”

  
  


Gilnur didn’t wait for a response but headed back to the fire. He sat back at the spot he had been at and his gaze again drifted into the fire.

Maybe two hours later, with Gak’s snores rasping into the air, Vug jerked and woke up.

  
  


“Mind your wounds,” Gilnur said, barely looking up from his fireside stare.

  
  


Vug was breathing heavily. He stood up slowly, favouring the wound that Aiden had left. Between his own healing, and that of the healer’s kit now back in Gilnur’s pack, he would be in better shape once he had rested. But for now, he had to lean on the halberd.

He looked down at the stationary Gilnur with the great axe laid out to one side and the long bow on the other then over at the apparently sleeping Aiden.

The muscles in his jaw clenched and he took a half step forward. Then he turned rapidly, a small grunt of pain and hobbled away from the campfire. Not kneeling, he grasped his symbol to the Stormlord, apparently seeking some form of communion with his god

Gilnur watched him, over the flickering flames.

For long moments, he stood there. Then he nodded his head and looked over to the group. Then he looked away and began casting.

He was there for some minute.

The bolt of lightning was sudden and unexpected, more so as there was no sound, just an instant of light. Gilnur blinked away the sudden purple after-image and realised that there was something alongside Vug, who appeared entirely unaffected by the sudden display.

Gilnur squinted then was taken aback to realise that there was a creature now standing next to Vug. Gilnur found himself looking at a large crocodile, regarding him with an intelligence he had not seen on any of the reptiles he had encountered recently.

Vug looked over and at Gilnur.

  
  


“This is my steed.” Vug said. “No killing the steed.” He added firmly. 

  
  


In other circumstances the look of consternation on his face would have been faintly ridiculous. As it was Gilnur just nodded, a maelstrom of thoughts and what-ifs whirling in his mind.

Vug stood for the entirety of the next two hours. Once he had served his watch, he sat down in the spot where Aiden had struck him down.

  
  


“Tell the others this is my steed and they are not to attack him.” It was the first words he had spoken in those two hours and Vug immediately pulled out his own bedroll and lay down. 

The crocodile remained standing and awake at his side

Gilnur too remained awake. The night dragged on but his thoughts did not. Had Aiden reached a point of no return? Could he be brought back from the dark path he was walking along?  _ I have been where you are _ . Indeed he had, and he wasn’t certain that if such a weapon had been offered to him at that point that he also would have seized on what was offered. Time had cured that wound, to some extent. But time wasn’t something that they had available right now.

When, finally, the everlasting darkness began to lift as the dawn light began to filter through the overcast sky. Gilnur finally moved. He was no further in his mind to find any acceptable way from this; all the solutions he could think of were no more than responses to the situation they found themselves in and not one that he could think of led to any of their problems being resolved. Short of divine intervention and he knew from bitter experience that that was not an option. 

As promised he woke Gak, who bounded up for his dawn-break watch as normal. Gilnur warned him about the crocodile then returned to his spot by the fire, still sitting, though he allowed himself to rest his eyes at least for a few minutes at a time now as the night slowly receded, aware of a slight gritty feeling that spoke to the fatigue.

Gak examined the crocodile curiously. It regarded him coolly, opening the mouth to reveal sharp teeth. The goliath just nodded and stood, starting his watch routine.

Aiden and Vug awoke at the same time, or at least both roused themselves at the same time, keeping the now burnt out remains of the fire between them. The first words spoken were by Vug - matter of fact exclamations to say that the crocodile next to him was his steed and was not to be attacked.

Aiden’s face gave away nothing of what he felt; though Gak was disappointed the crocodile chose not to shake his hand in greeting. After a frugal and cold breakfast, the four remaining members of this party pulled their packs together and set out.

Vug, sitting cross legged on his crocodile refused to move until everyone else had left.

Aiden rolled his eyes and set off at the fore, regarding the tracks they were following. Gak moved alongside him, eyes open for signs of life, the skull of the dragon lashed to his back with ribbons of meat dangling from it where the aquatic life of the swamp had made a spirited attempt at de-fleshing the skull during the night.

It was a grisly token to follow as Gilnur took a place in the centre of their layout, with Vug perched on his celestial crocodile bringing up the rear.

It seemed ludicrous that they would be continuing to follow the orc raiding party after the high tension of the night before. Gilnur reasoned that it was purely mechanical, almost automatic. By doing this, they didn’t have to immediately deal with the fall out from last night.

As they travailed the swamp, Gak was the only one who spoke, though he didn’t seem to either notice or else mind the muted responses from his travelling companions.

The lack of sleep dulled Gilnur’s senses a little. He was glad that Aiden and Gak had taken the lead today as he could feel his attention wander a little, often sinking into dark introspection before having to shake himself and carry on.

Lunch was also brief and they quickly moved on.

  
  


“Think we are gaining on them,” Gak said early into the afternoon trek. The sun was now trying to break through, with patches of sunlight giving way to muted shadows as grey clouds obscured the light.

Gilnur kept his eyes open for Bhumb alongside more hostile swamp life but hadn’t seen anything other than themselves and clouds of buzzing insects, which always now made him check the ground they crossed. He hoped Bhumb had turned around and was headed back towards Mimi. He hoped more that their little companion was fine, wherever he was.

As the clouds chased the sun low in the sky and the shadows started to lengthen again, Gilnur was hard pressed to avoid a yawn or two. Reluctantly, he conceded he would need to sleep tonight - worse he probably needed to doff the armour to make sure all traces of the isopods had been removed. This wasn’t an environment that encouraged that lack of protection, though he considered that sleeping last night may have resulted in not all of them waking up this morning.

The looks Vug and Aiden were trading were not friendly and with the days endeavour drawing to a close, a conflict of some measure seemed inevitable, the confrontation not yet resolved.


	13. Swamp melt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they close in on their kidnapped charge, the tensions in the group reach melting point

Somehow they had managed again to walk straight into a nest of swamp creatures.

Yesterday had been a large swarm of scurrying isopods; today they looked up to find several of the giant toads closing in on them. Lost in his thoughts still, Gilnur didn’t even notice until he saw Vug backing up, halberd at the ready.

Aiden raised his sword and vanished. Gilnur didn’t know where he went when he seemed to blink away but presumed he would reappear in a few seconds. But before he could ponder any more on that, two more of the giant amphibians appeared, one to each side of them.

Gilnur heard the swamp water splashing and turned, his sleep-dulled senses taken by surprise. Gak was already there however, great-sword slashing through the toad's sticky tongue before he stabbed the point up through the soft flesh of its mouth and up.

Gilnur nodded his thanks and turned back, raised an arrow to his cheek. He focused on the sounds of Vug’s crocodile clamping down onto the other nearby toad and fired an arrow at the creature, the arrow sinking deep into the creature. It was followed by a second and the creature croaked in pain for just a moment before the crocodile wrenched it to the ground and tore into it. With more of the giant beasts approaching, Vug called upon his god and a shimmer passed over him; Gilnur recognising the call for protection.

He became aware of sounds of a struggle behind a thick clump of bushes up ahead, not certain if he was hearing things, or if there really was something that sounded lupine there.

Aiden blinked back, several feet over from where he had been. The sword swept through the air twice and twin arcs of the grey cold energy cut along the ground. The first slammed into an advancing toad and it staggered to the side, the second arc passing through the space it had been just a moment before. 

The toads leapt forward and Vug and Gak engaged them in mid air,weapons ripping through the creature's gnarled skin. One toad tensed to leapt for Vug and the crocodile lunged forward, grabbing the beast’s leg in it’s powerful jaws. Gilnur moved behind the two warriors and cooly took a shot, the adrenaline kicking in and one of the toads groaned as the impacting arrow sent tendrils of brambles snaking along it’s skin. He aimed and took fire again. That arrow lodged in a creature's jaw. He released the frustrations of the day and channeled. In a flare of psionic energy, the arrow dug deep into it’s target, blood running from the wound.

Gilnur paused afterwards, aware that the flare of energy had actually reduced his available psionic power.

And he saw what was going to happen with a clarity that surprised him enough to let it happen.

As the crocodile brought down the last giant toad engaged with them, as the sounds of struggle just out of sight turned a little more frenetic, Gilnur saw Vug turn to look at Aiden, a calm look on his otherwise bestial face.

“Aiden, you must drop that sword.” The bugbear swung at him with his halberd. Aiden leaned back and the halberd swept past his face.

  
  


“Like this, is it?” He murmured. Shadows crept up from the ruined bodies of the toads and up Vugs armour, reaching into the joints of his armour, like wisps of chains. Aiden tensed then swung, almost seeming to vanish with the speed and appearing at the end of the swing. 

Gilnur blinked away an arc of grey light silhouetted on his vision, seemingly passing straight through Vug. The bugbear jerked and coughed up a gout of blood. Aiden was already moving again and the blade dug into Vugs side, more blood splattering into the ground and mixing with that of the giant toads at Gaks feet.

Aiden vanished again. 

Gak was laughing as the last of the nearby toads collapsed. He looked around crazed for another target. Gak, Vug and Gilnur all looked as there was a sudden rush of colour from the thick clump ahead. Splashing through the pool at a run, was a slightly bedraggled dire wolf. Gilnur was already raising the bow but as he sighted he noticed the blue fur, the streaks of black and where those antlers?

Vug caught his eye, the bugbear holding Gilnur’s gaze for one moment as he called for Kord to heal him. Whatever divine aid his god gave him only healed some of his wounds and he broke his look at the dragonborn to look all around him, keenly aware that Aiden could appear anywhere.

Gak’s attention was entirely caught by the oddly coloured dire wolf splashing back onto the dryer ground ahead of them; his frenzied laugh softening to the chuckle of someone who sees something cute. The goliath didn’t notice as Aiden’s form appeared just in front of him, using him as cover from Vug, sword crackling with silvery energy.

  
  


“Kord conquer thee!”

  
  


Vug called in a commanding tone and Aiden’s eyes widened in fear. But the bloodlust didn’t abate and the sword arose, preparing to slash down to release another blast of the eldritch energy his dark patron had afforded him.

THWIP.

The sword came down and the blast went wide. Aiden, the fear from Vugs final divine call mixing with confusion as he looked at the arrow embedded in his side, poisoned brambles wrapping around him. 

And he looked up at Gilnur, the bow string still thrumming from the shot.

  
  


“Really?” It wasn’t a question; the only tremor from the divine fear.

  
  


This, at the last, was what Gilnur needed to see. Even with his failed swing, Vug had called on Aiden to drop the sword. Aiden had shown no remorse with his return strike. The weeks cascaded onto Gilnur as he remembered all the moments when Aiden showed a side that was not as Gilnur recalled his friend and comrade since reappearing in a dock outside Stilben. The balance was heavily against the Aiden he had met leading the Greenwatch.

Aiden had to brace himself as Gak pushed past.

“Puppy!” He called happily, eyes fixed on the dire wolf. The wolf for it’s part had been watching them with their head cocked to one side. The eyes widened in horror as the goliath charged in, great-sword dropping to the ground so that he could properly pet the animal before him.

Gilnur became aware that he was screaming, hand reaching to quiver and releasing the arrows smoothly and swiftly in a manner that the teacher who had spent long hours training him to use the bow had often despaired of ever seeing.

THWIP. A second arrow lodged in Aiden’s thigh.

Vug hefted his halberd

THWIP. Another arrow appeared in Aiden’s shoulder

THWIP

THWIP.

Gilnur felt his psionic energy burst out again, burning through the adrenaline rush. He paused momentarily.

Aiden’s face was turning to him but before their eyes met, Vugs form stepped before Aiden, the halberd thrusting into Aiden’s chest, a detonation of divine power wracking his body.

He coughed up blood as Vug pulled his weapon back. The sword rose in the air, as if to make one more strike and Vugs halberd plunged into his chest again.

The sword tipped from lifeless fingers and plunged straight towards the ground. Aiden’s body provided no resistance, transforming into a dark, artinic mist that enveloped the sword. It plunged blade first into the ground, vibrating with the impact and the mist swirled around it, being drawn into the black metal in an instant.

Only the sword was left; of Aiden there were no physical remnants.

  
  


“Argh. Get off,” The voice was feminine. Gilnur numbly looked to see the dire wolf shift into a humanoid form. Black antlers and tribal markings clashing against the deep blue skin and her hoofed feet splashed in a low pool as the tiefling stepped hurriedly back from the suddenly crestfallen Gak, her face pulled in distaste.

“Aww. Where puppy?” Gak pleaded with her.

  
  


Gilnur dropped to his knees, his eyes on the upright sword and another name added to the list of people he had not saved.

Vug beheld the tiefling with curiosity.

  
  


“You have to wait your turn.”

  
  


He reached into his pack and pulled out a thick cloak. Carefully he approached the sword, using the blanket to pick it up and begin to wrap it up tightly.

  
  


In a low voice, Gilnur spoke. “We should throw that thing away.”

  
  


Vug continued to wrap the sword, not taking his attention from it. “I do not wish to just throw this in a pool where someone else could just pick it up. But we will take it and find a way to undo it’s dark magic. Or else just destroy it.” With it now firmly wrapped, he met the hooded eyes of Gilnur. “This I swear by the Stormlord and may Kord curse me if I falter.”

  
  


“I shall hold you to that.”

  
  


Vug shrugged, nodding then turned to the new arrival. Gilnur remained still, ignoring Gak’s plaintive cries for the puppy and the newcomers' comments to Gak and Vug. The dragonborn looked up again as Vug came back over, placing his hairy paw on Gilnur’s shoulders.

  
  


“It was the right thing you did. Your friend was already lost.”

  
  


Gilnur stood up and stared at him. “My friend died months ago in the calamity at Lakeview. And I could not save him.”

  
  


He stepped past the bugbear, mechanically slinging the bow onto it’s mount, long years of instinct having him bend down to collect the loose arrows on the ground where they had dropped as Aiden’s body had disappeared. Muscle memory had him put them in the quiver then he paused.

Reaching for his belt, he unclipped the pair of hand axes. Regarding them for a moment, to his knowledge, never used by him or their intended owners. He knelt, placing the axes back to back.

  
  


“These were the last items to survive Lakeview. There are only memories of that place now.”

He remained silent for a moment. Then Vug leaned over, placing another handaxe, his own memorial.

“We need to go, Gilnur. This is not the place for us to rest tonight and Nehir over there needs to speak with us.”

He nodded slowly and followed.

  
  


The group moved northwards and found a secluded grove of cypress where the roots had intermingled, providing a raised area out of the water and largely hidden from passing wildlife

“So, Nehir,” Vug stumbled over the unfamiliar name, “what do you need of us?”

  
  


She looked quizzically at them all.

  
  


“I was looking for people to aid me and you were suggested. Though I’m not entirely certain at this point.”

  
  


“We are prepared to help - you just caught us at a point where one of our members was a little too taken with one of the Betrayer Gods. Please do continue.”

Nehir eyed him for a moment then seemed to relent and spoke again.

  
  


“I had lived in my grove in this swamp for all my life until recently. Then we began to have troubles with these shambling undead things. I set out to find the cause and found myself embroiled with another party of adventurers, providing assistance in their quest. They sought to rescue someone kidnapped, some high priest, and they believed him to be held in a temple in the area, a temple to the Water Plane. We were able to rescue that priest, then the remainder of the group aiding me in my task.

“We revealed a shrine to a Dark God under the ground and found the source of the undead plaguing the land. And destroyed it.”

  
  


“So far so good then,” Vug said.

  
  


“We said our goodbyes and I returned to my grove. I believed the others had returned to Stilben but one of their number appeared a few days later, refusing to leave.”

  
  


“Is he the problem?”

  
  


“In a way. We were able to look after him, despite his stubbornness. This state of affairs had lasted a week when he suddenly went missing. I didn’t mind the absence but he had left his crossbow and other items of his. So I feel obliged to find out what happened to him.

“I know that he headed north, though I have no idea why. And headed this way, I was able to contact Old Mimi to ask her aid. It was she who suggested I should look out for you in this area.”

  
  


“Indeed. She has been assisting us in our own struggle. We too have had someone taken from us. Currently she is in the grasp of some of the orcs who live in this area and we are pursuing them, hoping to reach them before they reach a camp with many more.

“We need to catch them and return her to Mimi. But if we can help you as well, then we will do so, of course.”

  
  


“This is acceptable. The last group of adventurers required my aid for their quest but were then of aid to me.” So saying, she sat down with them, apparently in her own mind any negotiations were complete.

  
  


“Will the puppy come back?” Gak asked, just a little plaintively.

  
  


Nehir stared at him, cocking her head in a manner that was very wolf-like but did not respond.

  
  


“Could you provide more information on this person you seek? We have a few others around this area so if we can get a description to them, they may also be able to keep an eye out for them.”

  
  


“Of course. He’s human, fairly average in all regard as far as I can tell, looks like he is headed to middle age though that was partly due to an encounter with a ghost..” 

  
  


She floundered a little, seemingly a little flummoxed to provide more specific details.

  
  


“His name?” Vug prompted.

  
  


“Oh, yes. His name is Adagio. Has some arcane power in his words but prefers to use crossbows”

  
  


“Wait, Adagio?” It was the first words Gilnur had uttered since they had left the site of the encounter earlier in the evening. “He was here? They did come for, what was his name, Bragor, after all.”

“Who’s this Bragor?”

  
  


“Never met him.” Gilnur replied. “Think he was a high priest of Sarenrae in Stilben. Or something. The two dwarves in our party were keen to get him back.”

  
  


“That would be Lidgnut and I think the other was Thazak.”

  
  


“Yes. How are the others?”

  
  


“Well the goliath Luris was fine, as was the aasimar and the half-elf lady.”

  
  


“The first two aren’t known to me, but good to hear Ruby is well.” 

  
  


“Oh, that wasn’t Ruby. We found Ruby’s body at the bottom of a pit in the betrayer gods temple, had to re-kill her when she came back as a zombie.”

  
  


“Good. No place for undead,” Vug said firmly. 

  
  


GIlnur was taken aback. “I bet Ulben was upset when that happened.”

  
  


“Oh no, he had been dead for a few days at that point. Caught underwater by a water weird. There was one at the pool where I found you by the way so I’m glad we moved on.”

  
  


“Sounds like your old party haven’t done well.” Gak mentioned, tucking into one of his rations.

  
  


“No, it doesn’t. There was some talk of some ridiculous name, something like ‘voice of the idiot’.” He shook his head. “This swamp appears to be as dangerous to all who enter as it is for us. We should find Adagio then.”

  
  


“And you’ll take him out of the swamp when you do?” Nehir was leaning forward.

“Sure. I doubt he’ll want to return to Stilben - issues with the Clasp. But he could come with us to Drynna. To be honest, I don’t particularly want to return to Stilben myself. I’d managed to get picked up by the Clasp myself there. Wanted more muscle on the docks and weren’t taking no for an answer. Probably a good thing there is no metallic scaled dragonborn running around there this last few weeks.”

  
  


“We do need to get Astrid back first.” Vug said.

  
  


“Yes,” Gilnur agreed, “if you would be okay to help with that?” He asked Nehir who gave him a peculiar look. 

  
  


“We already agreed that,” Vug said patiently.

  
  


“Oh sorry. It’s, been, well, it’s been a time. Okay but once we get Astrid back to the temple, we may be able to have Seth, Marlin and Azuri head over from Old Minas’ tower to watch over her and get her to the ship. We maybe could take a few days to hunt the area before taking Astrid to Drynna.

“If we haven’t found him, then head back south from Drynna and look for him headed back that way.”

  
  


At the mention of Drynna, Nehir’s face took on a look of distaste; though what from, Gilnur was uncertain.

He realised at this point that the lack of sleep from the night before and the events of the last few days had caught up with him. Fighting the urge to sleep for the next ten minutes, he doffed the orc plate, sighing with a little bit of relief as he shrugged out of it, and very glad they had found a dry patch of land to rest this night.

He was aware the others were talking but tiredness overtook him and a thankfully dreamless sleep.

It was still dark when Gak shook him awake and told him it was his watch. He used one of his torches and a few broken branches to set up torches a couple of dozen feet away from them to provide a crude perimeter, and hopefully something to attach the flying insects and sat to one side, bow and arrows at the ready, and his shield nearby.

The sleep had refreshed him.

  
  


The talk of his own party came back and he recalled their meeting; Ruby in her glowing robe skipping around a corner, Ulben and Adagio’s distrustful looks - largely as Gilnur had been walking with members of the Clasp, Lidgnut and Thazak more accepting. Like Aiden, Ruby had also had some weapon from a pact with some otherworldly force. But her chaotic nature seemed more intrinsic. There had been a bloodlust with her as well, but it had been a more overt id in her case; she seemed more open in her emotions than most, if not all, of the people Gilnur had met.

He missed Aiden but he had missed him since his return to find the Greenwatch vanished and the village that had housing them razed to the very earth. His presence these last few weeks had reopened that old wound, that sense of loss that had occurred while his back was turned, whilst he had been elsewhere in the Plains. He now understood a little more what had happened.

But he had had a hope that he may have been able to rescue at least one of them once Aiden had appeared. And he now thought that that had been unlikely.

The glances that spoke to Aiden he had known he had to admit had been few - the signs that this was someone who was walking a dark path that they would not be swayed from much more prominent.

After all, there was a world of difference between hearing the name of a dark god in a dream, and actively seeking to undertake a ritual in that god's name.

For all that he wished to have saved Aiden, Gilnur had made a promise to himself much older to remove the world of monsters where he could. And monsters came in all forms. He looked over to where the other members of his party lay in slumber.

A bugbear, a goliath and a tiefling.

And himself.

They well would be the villains in some stories, all four appearing to be monsters. Yet Vug was a sworn follower of the prime deity Kord, The Stormlord. And Nehir's druidic nature was apparent in all she did. And while Gak was to be feared in his rage, he had a kindly soul and a charming outlook.

  
  


“Listen to me, brain full of mush,” he muttered. For the rest of his watch, as the rays of the sun filtered through the canopy, he remained alert until the rest awoke.

***

“There they are.”

  
  


Two days had passed in the swamp. The group had pushed on northwards, following the trail left by the orc hunters before them. Nehir did not know this part of the swamp but her knowledge of the K’Twal region in general had helped them avoid some of the more traveller unfriendly denizens.

They had in fact passed out of the swamp earlier that morning, Nehir a little dubious about leaving swampland behind. For the rest, it was an obvious marker that the Gathering was close by as they were now in the rocky terrain that the bugbears and the orcs had set up their annual meeting.

There was also a road, little more than a dirt track really, but after several weeks of traversing the sodden earth of the swamp, it made a refreshing change.

Cresting a small rise, they found themselves looking north into a small valley where a shallow river broke across the track at a narrow ford set into a culvert.

The sloping dirt on either side of this crossing point of the river was surprisingly steep. Steep enough in fact that the two orcs struggling to pull a small cart up and beyond the river were struggling, three more of their fellows guffawing at their endeavours, rather than making any move to assist.

From the rise, it was clear that there was a humanoid form trussed up in the back of the cart. An orc chief strode up from the river, his guffaws as loud as that of his warriors. He dumped a pot of water on the limp form and it writhed a little, as if the water had been of some sustenance to it, despite its crude application.

  
  


“Remember,” Gilnur said, “we need to stop them escaping to have more of the tribes pursuing us.”

  
  


Vug had already gone, leaping astride his giant crocodile mount and letting it waddle away. Gak was following and Nehir turned only to Gilnur to roll her eyes.

  
  


One of the orc warriors was standing on top of the banks overlooking the river. In his laughing at his mudstuck comrades, he half turned.

The laugh died and for a moment he regarded the odd sight of a bugbear riding a crocodile in bemusement. Then he took note of the unsheathed weapons, of the dragonborn lining up a shot and he shouted, turning to the rest of the orcs while pointing behind him.

Nehir was already casting; the short grass that lined the muddy track suddenly flourished, new stalks erupting out of the ground to entangle the spokes of the cart, winding around the ankles and calves of one of the orcs at the cart, and billowing along the track for another ten feet, the rapid growth waving as if underwater.

The orc chief was watching the advancing Vug now, pulling a curved horn from his belt. Pain flared in his side and he knocked a javelin aside, looking around the high banks of the river to see Gak charging straight for him, on the other side of the river.

Gilnur let out a breath then released the held arrow. He put the distance at a little over a hundred feet. With time to concentrate it was a relatively easy shot and his arrow embedded into the shoulder of one of the orcs at the cart, stamping furiously at the grass attempting to grow around him. Gilnur focussed his will and the orc cried out as brambles were suddenly wrapping around his torso, thorns digging into his flesh. Gilnur was already nocking a second arrow, his aim now shifting to the other orc at the cart.

The other orcs were charging towards the ford, but the undulating grass whipped around them, limiting their movement. Gilnur’s first target, a heavyset orc in plate armour flexed and ran towards the river, ignoring the cuts and slashes from the brambles as he pushed bodily through the grass and splashed across the river.

Stymied in their efforts to close on the party, the orcs instead pulled out javelins and flung them. The javelins missed Gilnurs next arrow which sank deeply in the throat of an orc, which fell back onto the ground. Gak had sped past the javelins but Nehir, concentrating on her spell, had paused and a javelin struck her, scraping her thigh, She slipped to one knee, crying out in pain, the magic lost as she pushed back to her feet.

The entangling grass grew still and flopped to the ground and the orcs began to move again, Gilnur’s next arrow barely missing as he also moved forward a little.

Vug reached the ongoing armoured orc, jumping and running to engage with a shimmer of divine flavour encircling his form. Gak meanwhile put on a burst of speed as he reached the bank of the culvert. He leapt, his giant form arcing across the river and landing on the back beyond, right next to the chief.

The orcs paused as they approached the cart, their attention shifting from Vug to Gak as the goliath pulled out his great sword, roaring in fury. Gilnur’s next arrow landed in their midst and released a detonation of energy. The force set one orc sprawling in the grass and caused another to stumble

  
  


As Gilnur continued to move forward, reaching for his next arrow, he could see Nehir gesturing for her next spell.

“WAAAAGGGHHH” Yelled the war chief and he and the standing orc warriors charged into combat. Gak ducked past one strike, his riposte smashing into one orcs head. The chief and the other orc slashed at him. Blood splattered from the wounds but Gak didn’t seem to notice and he whirled angrily towards them.

Gilnur could see Vug and the armoured orc were locked in a fierce combat but the bank was deep enough for the orc to be out of his view and he hurried past Nehir, who had her hand pointing towards the chief.

The chief began to howl in pain and Gilnur was a little surprised to see that smoke was just beginning to billow from the orcs skin where it touched his own armour, the ripple of heat waves visible already against the landscape beyond him

Gak batted away the swipe from the orc chief, now somewhat preoccupied with the heat radiating from his armour, and cut into his leg, his reverse swing impacting the orc’ss stomach with a ringing clang.

Still unable to line a shot up onto Vugs assailant, Gilnur snapped off a shot towards the remaining orc warrior. The flight appeared sticking out from it’s chest and it looked numbly at it a moment before it keeled over backwards, weapons dropping from dead hands

  
  


“For Kord,” came a shout followed by a flare of energy and Gilnur had to presume that Vug had managed to land a killing blow on his attacker.

The chief was now the last orc last, trading a last blow with Gak before he staggered back, another of Gilnur’s arrows punching into his side.

He tried to lift his axe but it fell as his fingers locked open and he scrabbled at his armour for one brief moment before he collapsed to the ground, back arching in pain, and smoke now rising from his body.

Gak prodded at him with his great sword before stepping back.

  
  


“He’s a bit hot!” He called, the battle rage diminishing with his obvious.

  
  


“I hear hot metal tends to put you at a disadvantage,” Nehir muttered, releasing the magic she had been casting.

  
  


“Particularly if it kills you,” Gilnur said, glancing at his own plate armour and making a mental note not to get on the wrong side of the tiefling.

Vug had reached the cart meanwhile and looked in.

  
  


“It’s our girl alright.”

  
  


“Good, let's get the cart turned around and head back as soon as we can. We definitely don’t want to be here if any more orcs are passing here.” Gilnur and Nehir headed towards the river, slowing and moving carefully when they reached the ford and found the crocodile snout down in the body of the orc Vug had dispatched.

  
  


Vug was looking at the cart, trying to decide if it was better to wheel it forward and turn it around, or whether it would just be easier for him and Gak to lift it up bodily and spin it in place. Gak was poking at the orc bodies.

“Hey, Mr Pointy!” He held up his javelin in triumph.

  
  


“You realise you can get more of those from the orcs don’t you?” Gilnur said as he passed by, hunting for arrows that may be still serviceable.

  
  


“But I have Mr Pointy.”

  
  


Nehir looked upon the shape of Astrid. Though heavily bound, the tendrils that emerged from her head, the fins protruding from her forearms and shins, and the mouth, a disquieting mix of beak and lamprey, the jaws extending out snout like from the otherwise human like face.

  
  


“That’s not pretty.”

  
  


“Like we said, a dark ritual that we need to undo.”

Gak held up a necklace of bones. “What these from?”

  
  


Nehir peered at it a moment but it was Vug who glanced over. “Probably gnome.”

  
  


Gak looked a little crestfallen.

  
  


“You okay?”

  
  


“Some of my best friends are gnomes. And gnome-yeeting is no fun if they can’t come back.”

  
  


Nehir tilted her head. “I’m almost afraid to ask but what is 'yeeting'?”

  
  


Gak perked up. ”It not a euphemism. You take a gnome and you yeet it up the mountain.” He pretended to hold something and mimed throwing it. Hard.

  
  


“Up the mountain?” Gilnur asked, picking up the last retrievable arrow and watching the track to check that no orcs, bugbears or other angry swamp inhabitants were closing in on them.

  
  


“Yeah,” replied Gak, as if it was obvious, “so they roll down and you can do it again.”

  
  


Nehir and Vug were giving matching expressions of disbelief.

  
  


Nehir shook her head and turned away, muttering to herself, the word ‘yeet’ clearly audible. Vug continued to stare at Gak. “I’m more worried that you know the word ‘euphemism.”

  
  


“Oh well, little wizard friend taught me the word.”

  
  


“You mean Zac?”

  
  


“No. This was a gnome.”

“And did you yeet him?”

  
  


“No, wrong time of year.”

  
  


Gilnur coughed. “Hate to interrupt you two, but we need to get moving. It’s a week-long trek back through the swamp to the temple from here. At least.”

  
  


“I can sort out an animal once we rest,” Vug said, visibly trying to wrench his mind back to the here and now. “For now, me and Gak can pull it.”

  
  


“Considering the ease that you carried the dragon, this shouldn’t be an issue for you.” Gilnur turned back to keep a watch on their surroundings. Finally they had reclaimed Astrid, nearly a month after Captain Bagshot had made his failed attempt to kidnap the merchant's daughter. Of course they still weren’t finished here; they still needed to get her back to the temple. And then for Mimi to be able to carry out the ritual to undo whatever had been done to Astrid.

They also need to check in with their companions at Old Zac’s and see if they intended to finish the escort to Drynna. And hope that Barrak and the sailors were still waiting for them. And after all that, Adagio was still missing.

Coupled with the losses they had suffered in recent week, Gilnur wanted out of this swamp and a return to somewhere with solid ground beneath his feet and where the drink wasn’t boiled swamp water. And preferably not Stilben with it’s muggy air, cursed wine and the ever present Clasp

Based on his luck over the last month, he had a feeling the K’Tawl Swamp had more surprises lined up for them.


	14. From the Wilds of K'Tawl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having caught up to the orcs and rescued their charge, the companions return to the temple, a new member in tow. Will the ritual go as planned?

In fact the biggest surprise was that in the two days of trekking towards the wizards tower, nothing untoward happened.

They had intercepted the orcs in fact not all that far from the glade where they had slain the giant snakes. Gak and Vug easily shifted the cart for the rest of the day, taking it in turns to drag the cart with it’s vaguely humanoid cargo.

When they set up camp for the evening, Vug dismissed the crocodile, much to the dismay of Gak - “Goodbye Mr Snappy”- and instead conjured a warhorse which pulled the cart the next day. 

They followed the ridge line and the tower of Old Minas was visible as the sun sank low.

  
  


“Let’s hope this works and he agrees to teleport us to Mimi,” Vug said.

  
  


“He will. He’ll be too curious about it not too,” was Gilnur’s response.

  
  


In fact, when they arrived Zac was enthused enough that he was casting the teleport spell before they were ready. And found themselves landing near to Mimi’s grove, appearing only a few feet above the ground.

GIlnur had been hoping to check in with Azuri, Marlin and Seth before they headed out. And Zac was already back to examining what they had of Astrid.

  
  


“Can’t believe it’s actually a deep scion,” the wizard said to himself, fascinated. Though he had been taken aback by the sudden travel, part of Gilnur was glad that they weren’t going to be spending the night at Zac’s - the number of entities that they had encountered the first time through his tower would have raised the worry of Zac’s curiosity overcoming Astrid’s well-being.

  
  


Calling for Mimi at the edge of the arcane wards, he was a little relieved when he saw Mimi coming out, then puzzled as he noticed a figure behind her. They were lithe, with flowing red hair and pointed ears showing their elven ancestry. The quiver at their hip was balanced by a shortsword on the other and a fine bow across one shoulder.

“Gracious. Good to see you again,” Mimi said as she approached the wards and released them. “Wait, is that Old Minas?”

  
  


Despite Gilnur’s expectations, Zak did actually look away from Astrid towards the old druid. He seemed a little, abashed maybe.

  
  


“Ah, hello Mimi. Um, lovely to see you.”

  
  


Her frown vanished as she saw the bundled form. “You found her!”

  
  


Vug nodded. “We did. Zak was helpful in knocking a few days from our return journey.”

  
  


Mimi gave him a hard look again, though she spoke to the rest. “I see a couple of your party are missing.”

  
  


“Big lizard eat them.” Gak said helpfully.

  
  


“He means a black dragon.” Gilnur said, a little wearily. Mimi looked at him in shock but Zac looked over in sudden interest.

  
  


“A black dragon! In the Swamp. Whereabouts was this?”

  
  


“Zac.”

  
  


Mimi spoke quietly but Zac subsided and the old druid continued. “And Nehir, my dear. Good to see you again. You found our wandering party. And they can be of aid to you?”

  
  


Nehir approached her, a look of genuine respect and affection on her blue skinned face. “Mimi.” She bowed. “I did find them. Fighting giant toads as it happened.” She glanced sidelong at Gilnur and Vug watching her.

  
  


“She was puppy!” Gak exclaimed, happily. Then, a little morose. “But not again.”

  
  


Mimi chuckled, “Sounds like normal then. Come in, we’ll rest for the night. If  _ he _ is here,” even Gak realised she meant the wizard,” then he can aid in the ritual tomorrow. But me and him need to go through a few things first.”

  
  


She turned and saw the figure behind her, who had been watching with mild curiosity. “Oh, mind me! This is Ari, I believe some of you know him?”

  
  


Gilnur looked at him again blankly for a moment then the realisation struck him. “You were on the ship with us!”

  
  


Ari bowed floridly. “Indeed I was. Though it transpires that that sea voyage and my constitution did not agree and I spent the majority of our journey languishing in the hold, nursing my sickness. Made the crash an interesting experience, let me tell you.” He turned to Nehir, gazed locked on her antlers. “My pardon milady but would you be a Wildmother?”

They all stared at Ari, Nehir included.

  
  


“What? I - no!” She stammered, taken aback

  
  


“My apologies, it is rare to see one of your talents out and about.”

  
  


“I’m not a Wildmother of any sort,” Nehir said, her blue skin possibly a little more purple than normal. 

  
  


Vug looked over to her. “Are you a god?” He asked, with good humour

  
  


“No, I’m a Gak.” The goliath walked in front of Nehir, apparently having missed the entire conversation. Vug stared after him, unable to stop himself struggling a bit and Nehir took the chance to hurry along.

  
  
  


They followed Mimi into her glade, sealing the wards behind her. Mimi and Zac immediately retreated to a quiet corner and began to talk in detail about arcane rituals and weave manipulations. The rest made sure that Astrid was still well bound. The deep scion seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness. It seemed aware of it’s surroundings but didn’t seem to want to communicate, or possibly was still recovering from the orc poisons to prevent it trying to communicate with them.

Or perhaps there wasn’t enough left to make the attempt. 

With the name, Gilnur had been able to find an entry in the bestiary they had retrieved from Sigurd’s remains. Deep Scions apparently were the result of a dark ritual, binding body and soul to a dark power. He had a moment pondering Aiden but Aiden’s god was not aquatic, so this would be something else.

And they had seen such a ritual first hand so that part certainly was true. The entry had little in actual detail but what was there included mention of a debilitating scream and some mention of shape shifting, Gilnur in fact was glad that the creature had been bound.

As Mimi and Zac continued to talk late into the night, the rest made themselves comfortable.

Ari, full name Ariandell, had been yet another bodyguard Goldheath had hired to escort his daughter to Drynna, for a wedding that was now long overdue. The bullywugs raid had missed him in the hold and by the time he recovered enough, the crew were beginning to sidle back to deal with the loss of their captain and the repair and refloating of the ship.  Mimi had visited a few days before to check in on them all, heal a few spots of sickness amongst the crew. And though Barrak was content to remain on protective watch, Ari by now was feeling far too cooped up and asked to escort Mimi back. He had spent the last couple of days roving the local area.

He listened with interest as Gilnur and Vug relayed the surprising long tale of their adventures within the K’Tawl, the pair realising that they had been here for very nearly a month now.

Gak listened raptly; and even Gilnur caught Nehir paying attention, though she sat a little ways from them. As the night pressed in, they all rested. Tomorrow was likely to be a big day.

  
  


The sun shone brightly the next morning as they all set off, Astrid deep scion form trussed across Vug’s warhorse.

Somewhere along the journey, Zak suddenly looked closely at Nehir. “You know, I think I do know you. From somewhere. Can’t place where though.”

  
  


Nehir peered at him, shaking her head. “I don’t think so.”

  
  


“No, I'm sure I do. Something to do with wolves, maybe?”

  
  


Nehir slowed for a moment, “That could be likely.” Her reply was hesitant but it seemed enough for Zac who nodded and carried on through the soggy terrain.

  
  


Gilnur, today holding the rear watch, glanced back and was sure he saw a small bullywug form following them. He chose to say nothing but was glad to see that Bhumb had made it back.

This could all end today, he realised. If the ritual could be completed, they could be on the ship by tomorrow and get Astrid finally to where she was meant to go.

It left the issue of Adagio of course. It didn’t feel right to abandon Nehir to her search alone though Gilnur did not know whom of the various party members in the area would feel the need to hunt for someone they did not know - indeed Gilnur had only known him for two days and Nehir couldn’t have known him for much longer. 

To himself, what he wanted to do was spend a number of weeks on something mundane, something that didn’t involve him chasing monsters or fending off attacks.

The temple came into view and they all focused upon it.

They quickly established that it was currently empty - no lurking creatures and Astrid was removed, the war horse left outside as they all descended into the main chamber.

The shredded orc body was no longer there, though a trail of blood showed where it had been dragged away. Gilnur hoped it was Mimi or Ari who had done it.

  
  


Mimi affixed Gak. “Now remember, you must hold her under the water whilst Zac and myself focus on the spell.” Gak nodded. But he had the easy part. She turned to view the rest.”It will be upon you to convince Astrid that she will need to choose her own form. And that she will need to give the killing blow to make that choice.”

They all nodded. 

Mimi and Zak moved up to the raised platforms that overlooked the large pool as Gak hefted the deep scion and carried it to the small circular pool within the platform at the centre. The rest picked up the ritual implements and placed them in low urns set around the pool, the dinosaurs bones and griffon feathers on two of the cardinal points while the black was placed on another.The Serpent’s Breath took up the last and Gilnur took a particular note of that - for it was that compound they would need to bring Astrid back from the dead.

With the ingredients in place, Vug took up a position near enough to aid Gak if needed. Ari and Nehir loosely flanked him. Gilnur however, held back a little, within the archway to the central chamber, keeping half an eye on the entrance behind. Last thing they would need in the middle of this was something or someone to enter the temple .

Gak stepped into the ritual pool, carrying the still bound scion, which had begun to wriggle frantically.

“Sorry fish lady. But this make you better.” He thrust the deep scion into the water, totally submerging it. Though it was certainly an aquatic being, it thrashed against the constraining ropes and gag as Gak held it.

Mimi and Zak’s voice rose in unison. Gilnur didn’t have much connection to the arcane weave but he could see the traces of power crackling through the air and everyone could feel a pressure wave building, the ritual offerings beginning to glow.

  
  


The chanting grew yet louder and a shape began to emerge on the right hand side as they watched the scene. The shape coalesced into a figure and the stricken face of Astrid, as the human that she had been the last time Gilnur had seen her came into vision. She was semi-translucent, the rocky walls of the cavern still visible behind her, a spiral of white energy now circling above Gak in the circle pool.

  
  


“Wh - what’s happening,” she said, a young lady all but overwhelmed.

  
  


“We are here to rescue you.” Vug shouted. Though the air was still as when they entered, they all felt a buffeting against them.

  
  


“You need to choose your human side,” Nehir called. Gilnur’s attention was caught by a dark shape materialising across from Astrid on the other side of the circular pool where Gak held steady against the now churning water. His eyes widened as Gilnur beheld a deep scion coming into being.

He was drawing an arrow even as he called attention to it.

Too late.

The scion opened i’s mouth and screamed. Gilnur winced as the noise seemed to buzz into his head. Gak and Vug stiffened and Ari held his head in his heads, a low murmur escaping his lips. Gilnur steeled his psyche and felt his muscles unlocking. Nehir too tensed, readying herself as Gilnur fired the first shot. It had moved as they did so, taking advantage of the momentary distraction to launch itself at Gak, slicing into him with sharp claws

The deep scion appeared to be again a little incorporeal but the arrow lodged into it well enough, and the familiar brambles seemed to gain purchase as they partly enveloped the scion. Nehir gestured and frost began to form around the form briefly before evaporating. Nehir scowled as her magic failed and Gilnur got a second arrow into it. It remained where it was, laying into Gak.

He suddenly turned his head, “That’s enough!” He shoved the creature’s claws away and drew his great sword, using one foot to hold the body against the floor of the pool and slashing at the scion as the furious laughter joined into the tumult filling the room

Ari was drawing his short swords now, ducking behind Vug and angling in on the scion. 

  
  


“You must choose to give up of this form and choose life!” He called, closing in to attack.

  
  


“It is your humanity you must choose,” Vug intoned, divine light flaring as his halberd slammed into the scion. 

There was a rattling form and Mimi’s dagger clattered along the stones to Astrid's feet; Mimi herself seemed almost as if she would overbalance and fall into the water before her. Zak’s voice rose in intensity for a moment and the druid steadied herself, still chanting; the strain evident on both their faces as to the level of energy they were attempted to control.

Astrid’s form looked at the dagger before her.

  
  


“I-I don’t know what to do. That form,” and she looked over to the deep scion hissing as it attempted to fend off Ari’s attacks, “that form was liberating. I had such freedom under the water.

  
  


Ari feinted a lunge, then sliced a blade across the creature’s throat. There was no blood, it just simply wasn’t there anymore. It was followed by a curious gurgling noise. With the pressure still building, they instinctively looked up for a moment. And around.

  
  


“Wait, the water ..” Nehir called out. The water that surrounded the platform had rapidly dropped and rose at the far end of the cavern, in a wall that shot towards them.

  
  


There was little time to brace against the onslaught of the tidal wave and the torrent of water swept through them. Gilnur was slammed into the rough corner of the archway pillar behind him and fell to the floor, spluttering for breath as the water drained away, and from the sudden pain down his back.

He looked to see that Nehir and Vug were sprawled on the floor, that somehow Ari had kept his footing. And he saw the partly spectral form of the deep scion return at the same spot, leaping at Gak again.

Vug didn’t even bother getting off his knees, just grabbing his halberd and thrust towards the scion, slashing into it with another flare of divine power. It stomped on the blade, pinning it to the floor and Vug called for the Stormlord. The spectral divine weapon formed behind the scion and cut into it, forcing it to stumble and free Vug’s halberd.

Gilnur got back to his feet as this happened, staggering to the other side of the arch as he loosened a shot. It hit the creature and he channeled his psionics through the shifting weave to rip the arrow from it’s form. It appeared a little more translucent and whirled as Ari renewed his attack, slashing into it. Gilnur got another arrow into it and Ari plunged both his blades into the scion's chest. It evaporated around him.

The gurgling filled the room again as the outer water dropped out of sight.

Vug turned to Astrid, herself in a sitting position where the last wave had buffeted her. “We do this for you. But this is your choice to make.”

  
  


As Nehir and Gilnur took a firmer hold of the archway, as Gak kept his sword raised in one head, shifting to keep his weight on the struggling body in the pool, Ari moved over, sheathing the swords and drawing his bow.

  
  


“Astrid,” Gilnur called, watching the spot he expected the scion to reappear within, “we are here for you. But you must take the dagger and slay the form to stop it taking you over.”

  
  


Her face grew pale and she drew back a little. Ari stopped where he, apparently by accident, blocked her line of sight to Gilnur and spoke more calmer than his eyes watching the receding water.

“My lady, you must choose to live. But you must choose to live in the form that we were blessed to know you in. And not this foul version that you were forced into.”

  
  


She looked up at him as the water rose behind her. “But I was free in that form.”

  
  


The water rushed through the area again. Gak crouched low and the wave pushed over him. Ari again seemed to almost dance through the wave. Gilnur, one hand tight against the stonework felt his grip lessen and he focussed on holding on, the wave rushing past him. He held Nehir cry out as her grip slipped and she banged into the wall as the waters pulled back. Vug, out in the open, had been pushed back several feet and lay for a moment.

  
  


“I, I don’t know,” Astrid said, damp hair covering her face. “I didn’t want to get married, like that. It’s not what we wanted ...”

  
  


The deep scion manifested again. Even as it did, Nehir, still on one knee, threw her bone carved dagger at it, aware of the invisible arcane power writhing through the air around them. The hit was glancing, a cut on it’s snarling face; then Gak’s last javelin flew into its shoulder. It cried out with pain and leapt for Gak again.

It arrested it’s movement suddenly as Vug thrust where it would have been. Before it could swipe at him, he slammed the side of the halberd into the wound where the javelin had fallen out.

As the spiritual weapon swung down at it again, Gilnur pushed off from the wall. He had always found it hard appealing to people’s better nature, but he had found that his appearance could be used to his advantage.

Catching Astrids eye, he stalked toward her. “If you do not do this, Astrid. Then know we will hunt you down.” Almost casually, he shot at the scion, fending off Vug’s attacks. The arrow landed true and switching his gaze back to Astrid, gestured. Her head whipped around as an explosion of energy staggered the scion. “You will be a monster. And we will hunt you down as such.” He took a second shot and the scion staggered back again. “And we will kill you.”

She looked at him with frightened horror. And Gilnur hoped that someone would pick up on his lead.

Ari had.

“Of course, what you decide to do with your life is up to you,” he fired his arrows casually, with none of the threat that Gilnur had worked to imply. “You can choose to marry whomever you wish, dear lady. There is such adventure out there in this world and beyond. You can choose to be with whomever you like.” The deep scion vanished again, the arrows lodged in it dropping to the floor. “You just need to pick to be human and the whole world could be yours.”

The wall of water was forming at the rear end of the chamber, there was a glimmer of shadow where the scion would emerge again.

Astrid slowly rose to her feet, eyes locked on Ari.

  
  


“I didn’t want the marriage. But I couldn’t choose.”

  
  


And just like that, the story clicked into place for Gilnur.

  
  


“And now you can,” he said, his gaze not switching as her eyes met his again. “It’s because of him we are all here right now. He did what he felt he had to do. And it’s for him that you will do this. He gave you the chance but it needs for you to take it.”

  
  


The wall of water remained stationary at the end of the chamber, the scion did not yet appear. And Astrid picked up the dagger.

  
  


“I don’t know if I can.”

  
  


“We are here for you,” Ari said gently, As she turned to look at Gak, Ari flicked a glance over to Gilnur, still not quite understanding it all. “You know what you need to do. And we can help you afterwards.”

  
  


She moved across the floor, her pace slow and in contrast to the still building pressure, to the voices of Mimi and Zak echoing through the space, the raging water held vertical. Gak was struggling now, great sword on the floor and both hands holding the body down just below the surface of the pool.

She moved across the floor, and Gilnur wondered if he should have told her that her love was dead. But he couldn’t be sure if she would then choose her humanity to live in honour of the man she had also loved, or would embrace the monster and seek vengeance.

He almost fancied that at the edge of hearing that he could hear some deep wordless scream of rage as Astrid stepped calmly into the pool. She regarded the struggling body as she brought the dagger high.

And struck.

The world  _ shifted _ .

Gilnur blinked at the sudden light, the loss of pressure. As he squinted, it was peculiarly the smell he noticed first. Honeysuckle for just a moment then fresh grass.

The air against his scales was not the humid and muggy K’Tawl air that had besieged them for a month or more and as his eyes adjusted, even the light had a slightly different feel to it.

The others were with him, wherever here was. They stood on a raised grass covered island, surrounded on all sides by a large pool of pink-hued water which stretched out hundreds of feet, broken only by the sheer trunks of ginormous trees, tens of feet across or more. A canopy of pink leaves covered the sky overhead hundreds of feet above, each leaf glowing as if a sun was focused upon it, leaving the whole area dappled in an ever undulating light.

  
  


“We’re home. Why are we home?” Ari asked?

Gilnur looked to see his companions were all here. Ari looking around confused, but relaxed. Vug had a firm grasp on his halberd and was looking around perplexed. Nehir at some point in the fight had shifted into her dire wolf form, the blue fur rippling in a slight, warm but comfortable breeze. Gak knelt to pick up his greatsword looking around a little awestruck. There was a clink as his hand closed around the hilt

“Oh, that’s not good,” he said calmly. Gilnur looked down to see the grass on which they stood was covered in bodies, in corpses. All sorts of humanoids lay around them, all apparently had been here for a very long time as they lay in various positions of rest.

  
  


“Guess there is only one way to go,” Ari said cheerfully. Before them a fragile looking gate, made from what appears to be strands of marble that had been organically woven together. Two thicker beams, ten feet apart, and of the same woven but slender marble headed out from the island above the water to form a second gate on the only other location of interest in this submerged forest.

Before them was the trunk of one of these great trees, maybe eighty feet at its widest point. The tree had been felled at some point and what remained had been carved, or possibly smoothed over, forming three great steps, the lowest at a level with them, and the other two each around five feet above the one before it

Bizarrely five more trees, of what Gilnur would have considered an average size until now, were rooted in the trunk before them.

Ari paused just before the gate.

  
  


“Welcome to the Feywild, I guess. Haven’t been to this precise bit, of course, but this feels good to be back.”

He stepped through the gate. And forward.

Gilnur reached forward but the cry of warning stuck in his throat as Ari calmly walked across. Gilnur looked closer to see that between the marble beams was a translucent energy field, an angular symbol visible, the field reacting as Ari stepped along it.

He reached the other side and stepped through the gate there.

The voice caught them off guard.

  
  


_ The second lock is sundered. The third lock shall not be broken _

  
  


“I’m sorry,” Ari called, turning on the spot to try to find where the voice had come from. “Could you say that again, please?”

  
  


_ The first and second locks are sundered. The third lock shall not be broken _ .

  
  


Gilnur and Vug shared a glance, aware of the weapons, armour and adventuring gear on the bodies around them.

  
  


“Last I remember,” Vug said quietly, “was Mimi shouting it worked. Then we are here. What happened?”

  
  


Gilnur shrugged, his eyes looking around.

Ahead of them Ari, still turning and trying to see where the voice was coming from, stopped and looked at the tree nearest to them more closely.

  
  


“Is that you who is speaking to us?”

  
  


Stepping gingerly across the energy bridge, Gilnur and Vug both paused again as the voice came again and the nearest tree shivered. 

  
  


_ You must not come here. Turn back. The third lock shall not be broken _

  
  


“You keep talking about these locks? What are the locks of which you speak?”

  
  


_ The first lock was sundered when the transformation occurred. The second when the dagger slew the servant _ .  _ The third lock shall not be broken. Turn back from this space _ .

  
  


Ari looked back at the rest. “Treants, right? Never seem to give a straight answer.” He turned back. “Look, we can’t turn back. We don’t know how we got here. And there is nowhere else to go. If you can just tell us where we are and how to leave, that would be enough.”

  
  


_ Turn back _

  
  


“Look at the bit of land we arrived upon. There isn’t anywhere to go.”

Vug leant into Gilnur “Third lock?”

  
  


“No idea, but this ties into what we were doing for sure.”

  
  


Before Vug could respond, they were both nudged by Nehir - her wolf form too bulky to pass them on the bridge that they stood upon. They proceeded forward, Vug slowly moving left as they stepped off and Gilnur to the right, instinctively seeking to flank this thing.

  
  


Ari was close before the tree now and Gilnur had a fancy that he could see the whorls and knots of the bark of this tree had formed the outline of a face.

  
  


“Listen, Treant. We don’t know what you mean by locks. We just want to leave this place.”

  
  


They all suddenly got the feeling that the tree was watching them closely, particularly Gilnur and Vug who were edging to the sides.

  
  


_ Will not let you break the third lock. You must turn back. You must not proceed. _

  
  


“Waiting didn’t work for them,” Gak pointed a thumb behind him. “Oh puppy!” He said excitedly as Nehir brushed past him to stand ready close to the tree.

  
  


“My large friend is correct, Treant. It does not appear like we can wait here. Could you tell us where in the Fey we are?”

  
  


To his side, Gilnur could see wooden steps carved raising to the next level up. A second set had been carved at the far end of the middle level. And on the top level, was a wooden chest, somewhat incongruous against the otherwise natural seeming environment. Even the magical bridge felt more natural than the chest. He checked that Vug had noticed, gesturing discreetly to him and Nehir to be sure.

Ari was still talking and Gilnur suddenly sprang forward, aiming to get to the steps while the plant entity wasn’t paying attention.

It was.

The branches all around the tree suddenly went rigid, sticking out from the trunk of the arboreal creature. A barrage of leaves shot out from it, in all directions. Gilnur felt impacts across his body as the rigid and razor-sharp blades dug in, howls from Nehir and Vug clear that this had been an attack in all directions.

As he quickly focussed and called upon the limited healing he had, staunching the blood flow, the question was clear.

  
  


Was the third lock the last obstacle to save Astrid? Or was it the last part of the ritual that would ensure it’s completion. 


End file.
